an epic tale of antisemitism and how it slowly boils within a community in the Romania right around 1900, looking even like floating 200 years back in time. Andrei Cohn manages to create a naturalistic world building, using the common accuracy and dialogue fetish of Romanian cinema to depict this story of an historic reenactment. every aspect of filmmaking is first class here, from the beautiful mise en scene (cinematography by Andrei Butica) to the cast giving an authentic act to a world so far removed from ours. especially the tone of language and level of education and empathy are well covered. the concept very well thought through and even better executed. you'll know early on that this will culminate in an ominous, baneful climax. Cohn now takes in another trait of contemporary Romanian cinema: going far above the classic 100 mins frame. in this case we go up to 133 mins. and it's exactly those 30+ mins right before the grand finale that is too much of the world we dived into. approx 40% of the audience left the screening in those minutes, knowing that a cathartic (?) ending is around the corner. it was a drag, and kicked many out of the loop before it could conclude his endeavor. in its epic proportions it's rather odd this hasn't scored a competition slot, at least for the Encounters section this should have been a good fit.
