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3 items from 2013

Film Review: ‘Beyond the Hills’ Entraps Audience in Claustrophobic Nightmare

14 March 2013 1:54 PM, PDT | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – There is an excellent 90-minute film hidden somewhere within the two-and-a-half-hour ordeal that is Cristian Mungiu’s “Beyond the Hills.” It’s far from a bad film, and offers many sequences of entrancing power, but simply doesn’t have enough material to justify its sprawling running time. Instead of probing deeper, the picture merely becomes repetitive.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

There’s also a dour sense of inevitability that overtakes the suspense at about the one-hour mark. The final outcome is obvious long before it arrives onscreen, and the same could be said of Mungiu’s previous effort, 2007’s Palme d’Or winner, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and Days.” Yet whereas that brilliant film was fueled by its often excruciating tension, “Hills” unfolds with a ponderously cynical logic. Though Mungiu’s work has brought tremendous global attention to the Romanian film industry, neither film will do the country’s tourism market any favors.

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- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

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Interview: Cristian Mungiu Stages Last Exorcism in ‘Beyond the Hills’

12 March 2013 9:03 AM, PDT | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – Five years after revitalizing the Romanian film industry with his 2007 Palme d’Or winner, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” filmmaker Cristian Mungiu returned to the Cannes Film Festival with his eagerly awaited follow-up, “Beyond the Hills.” Mungiu won the screenplay prize while his leading ladies, newcomers Cosmina Stratan and Cristina Flutur, each received acting accolades.

Art house audiences in Chicago will have the chance to catch Mungiu’s chilling drama when it opens Friday at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema. The fact-based tale centers on two old friends, Voichita (Stratan) and Alina (Flutur), who reconnect at an isolated monastery that appears to have been frozen in time. Though Alina expects her friend (and former lover) to leave with her, Voichita opts for a life of devout worship with the nuns rather than embrace mortal pleasures. Alina’s enraged acts of rebellion are interpreted by Voichita’s fellow nuns as demonic possession, »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

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HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 50 Pairs of Passes to Double Cannes Winner ‘Beyond the Hills’

5 March 2013 10:07 PM, PST | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 50 pairs of movie passes up for grabs to the advance screening of double Cannes Film Festival winner “Beyond the Hills” from the director of “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”!

“Beyond the Hills,” which opens on March 15, 2013 in Chicago and is not rated, stars Cosmina Stratan, Cristina Flutur, Valeriu Andriuta, Dana Tapalaga, Catalina Harabagiu, Gina Tandura, Vica Agache, Nora Covali, Dionisie Vitcu and Ionut Ghinea from writer and director Cristian Mungiu. The film was inspired by the non-fiction novels by Tatiana Niculescu Bran.

To win your free “Beyond the Hills” passes courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our unique Hookup technology below. That’s it! This screening is on Thursday, March 7, 2013 at 7 p.m. in Chicago. The more social actions you complete, the more points you score and the higher yours odds of winning! »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

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2013 | 2012

3 items from 2013

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