A promising plot collapses into a completely shapeless and tedious film beefed up to feature length by the inclusion of a huge amount of irrelevant mundane detail, such as an odd obsession with the protagonist’s diet.

The banality goes hand in hand with some accomplished naturalistic shooting which occasionally falls into nice tableaux, but isn’t enough to provide the interest lacking from the aimless narrative.

Despite a sympathetic turn from Corban, the lead character and his actions remain largely inscrutable; Muntean seems concerned only with watching him go through the motions. The family scenes, however, are well-realised.

Muntean offers some insight into the routine reality of this Romanian businessman, but ultimately the film sidesteps exploring the moral dilemma that at first seems to be its raison d’être.

RATING: 2/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Teodor Corban , Iulian Postelnicu, Oxana Moravec

DIRECTOR: Radu Muntean

WRITERS: Alexandru Baciu, Radu Muntean, Razvan Radulesu

SYNOPSIS: After being the sole unfortunate witness of a domestic quarrel that ends up in a murder, Patrascu (Corban) finds himself at odds with two very close neighbors: one is the bizarre murderer, the other one his very own conscience.