‘R.M.N’ hits issues beyond Romanian borders

Photo: The Romanian film "R.M.N." is scheduled to open Friday at the Magic Lantern Theatre. (Photo/IFC Films)

One of the most devastating films to come out of Romania in the past couple of decades was 2007’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” written and directed by Cristian Mungiu.

Manohla Dargis of the New York Times describe Mungiu’s work as a “ferocious, unsentimental, often brilliantly directed film” in which “the camera doesn't follow the action, it expresses consciousness itself.”

Mungiu has now returned with a film he wrote and directed titled “R.M.N.” (which is both an abbreviation for the country of Romania and that country’s abbreviation for the term “nuclear magnetic resonance”).

Keying on the return of a man (Marin Grigoire) to his remote mountain village, “R.M.N.” explores what happens when a local business hires some Sri Lankan immigrant over local residents. The resulting conflict reflects issues that resonate far beyond Romania’s borders.

The film is scheduled to open Friday at the Magic Lantern Theatre.

Among the overwhelmingly positive reviews that the film is receiving, here are three:

Peter Rainier of the Christian Science Monitor wrote, “Mungiu does not offer an easy remedy for this toxic mess. How could he? But no one who makes a movie this vehement can fail to harbor a hope for what human beings, at their best, can be. ‘R.M.N.’ is the work of an outraged idealist.”

Jessica Klang of Variety added, “Little less than a pared-back state of the nation, a microcosmic analogy for an entire shattered society boiled dry of its softening vowels, in which only the harder elements – the bigotries, the betrayals, and a surprising number of bears – remain.”

And finally, the Times’ Dargis concluded, “Mungiu’s touch is so deft and his filmmaking so enlivening, and the villagers so laughable (if also scary!), that you never feel dragged down or punished by the ugliness.”

Now go, see a movie. And enjoy.