Aferim!

Name: Aferim!
Genre: Adventure, Drama, History, Comedy, Western
Released: January 22, 2016
Duration: 108 min
Rating: 84
Cast: Alexandru Dabija, Mihai Comanoiu, Teodor Corban, Toma Cuzin

2016

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 17 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 44 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 44 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Big World Pictures | Release Date: January 22, 2016 | Not Rated

Starring: Alexandru Dabija, Mihai Comanoiu, Teodor Corban, Toma Cuzin

Summary: Eastern Europe, 1835. Two riders cross a barren landscape in the middle of Wallachia. They are the gendarme Costandin and his son. Together they are searching for a gypsy slave who has run away from his nobleman master and is suspected of having an affair with the noble's wife. While the unflappable Costandin comments on every situationEastern Europe, 1835. Two riders cross a barren landscape in the middle of Wallachia. They are the gendarme Costandin and his son. Together they are searching for a gypsy slave who has run away from his nobleman master and is suspected of having an affair with the noble's wife. While the unflappable Costandin comments on every situation with a cheery aphorism, his son takes a more contemplative view of the world. On their odyssey they encounter people of different nationalities and beliefs: Turks and Russians, Christians and Jews, Romanians and Hungarians. Each harbors prejudices against the others which have been passed down from generation to generation. And even when the slave Carfin is found, the adventure is far from over. [Big World Pictures]… Expand

Director: Radu Jude

Genre(s): Adventure, Drama, History, Comedy, Western

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 108 min

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Critic Reviews

100

The Guardian Jordan Hoffman

Jan 21, 2016

It’s worth mentioning again that, somehow, this movie, with all its full-frontal historical horror, is still loaded with laughs. Read full review

IndieWire Eric Kohn

Feb 19, 2015

Aferim! amounts to a serious endeavor designed to explore many facets of its era through the lens of people trapped in it. Their crude dialogue, real as it may be, hints at comedic possibilities while offering a shrewd look at people defined by their circumstances. Read full review

Sheri Linden

Jan 21, 2016

Aferim! conjures a world in flux. From the ironic "Bravo!" of its title to its Chekhovian final moment after an episode of terrible brutality, Jude's film connects that world, unforgettably, to our own. Read full review

Bill Goodykoontz

Feb 25, 2016

Jude refuses to force a happy ending upon the audience. Things happen as they happen, and if one scene is especially hard to stomach, it leads to a kind of grim resolve to just keep forging ahead as best you can. Read full review

Soren Andersen

Mar 24, 2016

Shot in stark black and white, the picture’s sense of place and time is strong — pungently so. Read full review

The Film Stage Michael Snydel

Jan 27, 2016

Strikingly shot and politically rich, Aferim! feels important, but too often it also feels like a fiery lecture inflected with moments of poetic grace. Read full review

Mike D'Angelo

Jan 21, 2016

To the extent that the film has an emotional journey, it’s the story of this man’s very, very slight moral awakening, which achieves nothing whatsoever and doesn’t necessarily look as if it’s going to stick. Read full review

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User Reviews

StanleyKubrick

Jul 28, 2016

This is an important film about a forgotten chapter of history. Even if it would be a bad Hollywood treatment, it would be an important story to tell, but Radu Jude made a true work of art with some of the best cinematography (Marius Panduru) you'll see this year. On top of that, it's aThis is an important film about a forgotten chapter of history. Even if it would be a bad Hollywood treatment, it would be an important story to tell, but Radu Jude made a true work of art with some of the best cinematography (Marius Panduru) you'll see this year. On top of that, it's a surprisingly funny and insightful film. Learning about Eastern European history was rarely so much fun.… Expand

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LeZee

Feb 24, 2016

Adventurous, funny, thrilling and shocking!

The second movie for me from this director after a beautiful child custody dramedy, 'Everybody in Our Family'. This was totally different, a historical theme that takes place 200 years early to the present. This is a black and white flick thatAdventurous, funny, thrilling and shocking!

The second movie for me from this director after a beautiful child custody dramedy, 'Everybody in Our Family'. This was totally different, a historical theme that takes place 200 years early to the present. This is a black and white flick that perfectly blends with the timeline of the narration. The Romania's submission for the 2016's Oscars. I have not seen all the foreign movie nominees, but having seen the out of the contest films like this and Brasil's 'The Second Mother', they are a lot better than the actually in the race film, 'A War'.

Coming to this movie, I was almost certain that I wasn't going to write a review after knowing about it through the trailer and the synopsis despite good ratings and praised by the critics. Because I felt this must be a boring kind, so was thinking to get over with it. Like there's a saying, don't judge a book by its cover, it happened right here for me with this movie. So this is where I realised after the watch that the Academy Awards was totally wrong for snubbing it. In fact, this was one of the best foreign movies I have seen in the last six months or so.

"When a wise man opens his mouth, open your ear."

They might have had a solid reason for that, that I don't know, but my guess is the film's ending. The opening was slow, the dialogues were loud, but sometime foolishly funny and sometimes wisely funny. Overall you must pay close attention, so that you can enjoy jokes. Definitely a wonderful adventure, like any other man hunt films, this was so serious on that affair, but viewers won't realise that till the final scene. A well supported music throughout to tell an incredible tale about two men on the mission who meet different people, land, culture and language.

It is 1835, in the Eastern Europe region, Wallachia, the father-son duo from the police force on a trail to track down a runaway slave. They must go beyond their territorial limits to find him. On their way, they came forwards to the people they just met needed help, and vice versa, After the intense search they grab him in the remote place, but his version of the story to flee differs. So what comes later is the final act and a very shocking conclusion.

"Fear is shameful, but healthy. It's God's gift."

Not so interested to very into it is something that I was not expected. The reason was obvious it was funnier than I thought. Besides that, I was uncomfortable with the slavery theme. It's turning me off from having a good time and beginning to concern. But that's how the old world was, as it was based on the old documents and texts of the real event. After that horrifying finale, the bold statement from the father to son that goes like this 'God, even looks after worms and we can't look after each other' is what made me think we had come a long way since, yet do everything has changed now? And you know the answer to that.

It was not an unusual storyline, I have seen hundreds of other similar films, but it was from the different country, hence different language, culture, comedies, landscapes and different outcome result. Well, this film gets you at with the different moods at the different level of the narration. A fine merges of multiple genre, and yet delivers more than you anticipating. If you are wondering what is the meaning of the title, 'Well Done' or 'Bravo' is the English translation.

Low budget movie? But, that's the reason this movie makes a very interesting. Because the 19th century tale and this film that kind feels like made in the early 30s (except the high framerate) pretty unlike to any modern black and white films. Definitely a must see if you're interested in this year's Oscar nominees for the best foreign movies, even though it did not make.

8½/10… Expand

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stone12

May 28, 2020

Can't even get through the first 5 minutes of the movie. Managed to watch until 1 hour. Terrible dialogue.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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