March 28, 2024
FILM: DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD
DIRECTED BY: RADU JUDE
STARRING: NINAHOSS, UWE BOLL, KATIA PASCARIU
RATING: 4 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Romania has produced some of the most interesting and provocative film directors. The last two decades or so has seen a wave of their films (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Beyond the Hills, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle) garner international acclaim as they play festivals around the world. For 2023’s Best International Film Oscar submission, the country chose Do Not Expect Too Much of From End of the World from writer/director Radu Jude. Like a number of these Romanian films it is long: clocking in at 163 minutes which might seem like a major challenge for filmgoers but I’d argue that it isn’t a film for the average audience. Rather this is a film for anyone involved in filmmaking or any industry that pushes its employees beyond what might be acceptable in order to earn profits and save face.
There are essentially two parts to the film. The first, which lasts about two hours, focuses on Angela (Ilinca Manolache), a production assistant for a company shooting an educational film about safety in the workplace after several people were injured on the job at that very company. Production assistants by trade are usually on the lowest rung of a film crew. They basically have to do whatever is asked of them by the director or anyone involved in a production. Angela’s job is to drive all over Bucharest trying to interview people for the role of spokesperson for injured workers. She spends from the early morning hours until late into the night in her car. She also finds herself having to, among other things, serve food and figure out how to transport handicapped individuals. She’s a character that is hardly a peon victim in all of this though. As she drives, rather wildly through the streets, she yells profanity at other drivers, bares her many tattoos, and makes TikTok videos of herself re-imagined as a foul-mouthed, conservative, bald man. She’s also very bright and seems to love books on complex subjects.
Late in the evening she picks up a marketing executive (Nina Hoss) for the company. They have an insightful and lengthy conversation which in part focuses on all of the people who have lost their lives due to working overtime and being disregarded by their employers. The irony here is that Angela IS one of those employees. By the time she meets the exec, she’s already fallen asleep at least once. Director Radu Jude then suddenly inserts actual shots of decorated crosses all over Romania marking the people who have died from reckless and/or overly tired driving. It’s a daring choice as it essentially stops the narrative in its tracks, similar to Jean Luc-Godard’s extended traffic jam in his 1967 film Weekend. Related to this, the characters also discuss whether self-driving cars would be safer and if they could make quick decisions in the event of an emergency. Do the companies that make them even know how to do that or are they just manufacturing the cars to increase profits?
The man who is selected to be in the safety film, Ovidiu, is the subject of the last hour of the film which consists of two very long but revealing takes. Ovidiu previously became paralyzed due to poor working conditions. While he sits with his wife, mother, and daughter waiting for each take of the scene within the film to be shot, rain begins and hunger sets in. So, once again, the company that is making the safety film is ignoring the safety and needs of people involved in the production.
Essentially this is a film about overworked crew members and actors on a film set by a company that is less interested in taking care of those employees than it is in completing the job and making its money. There are other references throughout the film concerning the greed found in the corporate world. Interestingly, even when they try to shoot a scene that is supposed to come across as genuine they ask Ovidiu to change what he is saying and manipulate the background at the shooting location. Are such scenes truly “real” if the participants are being coached? What is better for the company? Interestingly, one of the characters makes reference to the Lumiere Brothers’ 1895 film Workers Leaving a Factory. That film, said to be the first movie ever shown in a theater, proposes to show viewers actual workers ending the day at a factory. However, as the character points out, the version most people have seen was actually a reshoot because the Lumieres didn’t like the original. Thus, filmmakers have always manipulated even scenes that are supposed to represent reality.
Jude’s filmmaking style here is also multi-layered. The scenes of Angela driving all over the city are stark, gritty, and black and white. Her TikTok videos are in HD color. There are even many scenes from a 1981 called Angela Moves On featuring a character that also drives around Bucharest in a taxi. These scenes are cut into Angela’s narrative linking her job to that of an underpaid taxi driver. (The actress who plays that part appears to turn up as Ovidiu’s mother, now 40 years older.) These scenes along with the TikTok videos suggest that manufactured worlds are more visually stunning than the drab environment Angela experiences in real life.
Jude also highlights the downturn in Romanian life as a result of elected officials who are more concerned with building palaces than maintaining lower-class neighborhoods. He includes several other shots from the 1981 film that depict a much better functioning society than the one it currently has.
This is a long but endlessly fascinating and often very funny film about corporations, greed, and the entertainment business. Its layers should keep viewers debating its many themes and ideas long after the creative Bob Dylan inspired closing credits.
Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World played at the Chicago International Film Festival this past Fall. I placed it in my Top Ten Films of 2023. It opens this week in limited theatrical release, including the Gene Siskel Center in Chicago.
FILM: DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD
DIRECTED BY: RADU JUDE
STARRING: NINAHOSS, UWE BOLL, KATIA PASCARIU
RATING: 4 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Romania has produced some of the most interesting and provocative film directors. The last two decades or so has seen a wave of their films (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Beyond the Hills, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle) garner international acclaim as they play festivals around the world. For 2023’s Best International Film Oscar submission, the country chose Do Not Expect Too Much of From End of the World from writer/director Radu Jude. Like a number of these Romanian films it is long: clocking in at 163 minutes which might seem like a major challenge for filmgoers but I’d argue that it isn’t a film for the average audience. Rather this is a film for anyone involved in filmmaking or any industry that pushes its employees beyond what might be acceptable in order to earn profits and save face.
There are essentially two parts to the film. The first, which lasts about two hours, focuses on Angela (Ilinca Manolache), a production assistant for a company shooting an educational film about safety in the workplace after several people were injured on the job at that very company. Production assistants by trade are usually on the lowest rung of a film crew. They basically have to do whatever is asked of them by the director or anyone involved in a production. Angela’s job is to drive all over Bucharest trying to interview people for the role of spokesperson for injured workers. She spends from the early morning hours until late into the night in her car. She also finds herself having to, among other things, serve food and figure out how to transport handicapped individuals. She’s a character that is hardly a peon victim in all of this though. As she drives, rather wildly through the streets, she yells profanity at other drivers, bares her many tattoos, and makes TikTok videos of herself re-imagined as a foul-mouthed, conservative, bald man. She’s also very bright and seems to love books on complex subjects.
Late in the evening she picks up a marketing executive (Nina Hoss) for the company. They have an insightful and lengthy conversation which in part focuses on all of the people who have lost their lives due to working overtime and being disregarded by their employers. The irony here is that Angela IS one of those employees. By the time she meets the exec, she’s already fallen asleep at least once. Director Radu Jude then suddenly inserts actual shots of decorated crosses all over Romania marking the people who have died from reckless and/or overly tired driving. It’s a daring choice as it essentially stops the narrative in its tracks, similar to Jean Luc-Godard’s extended traffic jam in his 1967 film Weekend. Related to this, the characters also discuss whether self-driving cars would be safer and if they could make quick decisions in the event of an emergency. Do the companies that make them even know how to do that or are they just manufacturing the cars to increase profits?
The man who is selected to be in the safety film, Ovidiu, is the subject of the last hour of the film which consists of two very long but revealing takes. Ovidiu previously became paralyzed due to poor working conditions. While he sits with his wife, mother, and daughter waiting for each take of the scene within the film to be shot, rain begins and hunger sets in. So, once again, the company that is making the safety film is ignoring the safety and needs of people involved in the production.
Essentially this is a film about overworked crew members and actors on a film set by a company that is less interested in taking care of those employees than it is in completing the job and making its money. There are other references throughout the film concerning the greed found in the corporate world. Interestingly, even when they try to shoot a scene that is supposed to come across as genuine they ask Ovidiu to change what he is saying and manipulate the background at the shooting location. Are such scenes truly “real” if the participants are being coached? What is better for the company? Interestingly, one of the characters makes reference to the Lumiere Brothers’ 1895 film Workers Leaving a Factory. That film, said to be the first movie ever shown in a theater, proposes to show viewers actual workers ending the day at a factory. However, as the character points out, the version most people have seen was actually a reshoot because the Lumieres didn’t like the original. Thus, filmmakers have always manipulated even scenes that are supposed to represent reality.
Jude’s filmmaking style here is also multi-layered. The scenes of Angela driving all over the city are stark, gritty, and black and white. Her TikTok videos are in HD color. There are even many scenes from a 1981 called Angela Moves On featuring a character that also drives around Bucharest in a taxi. These scenes are cut into Angela’s narrative linking her job to that of an underpaid taxi driver. (The actress who plays that part appears to turn up as Ovidiu’s mother, now 40 years older.) These scenes along with the TikTok videos suggest that manufactured worlds are more visually stunning than the drab environment Angela experiences in real life.
Jude also highlights the downturn in Romanian life as a result of elected officials who are more concerned with building palaces than maintaining lower-class neighborhoods. He includes several other shots from the 1981 film that depict a much better functioning society than the one it currently has.
This is a long but endlessly fascinating and often very funny film about corporations, greed, and the entertainment business. Its layers should keep viewers debating its many themes and ideas long after the creative Bob Dylan inspired closing credits.
Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World played at the Chicago International Film Festival this past Fall. I placed it in my Top Ten Films of 2023. It opens this week in limited theatrical release, including the Gene Siskel Center in Chicago.