Fix Alert (2005)

This film is a puzzle, which fits together in many different ways, only one of which is right. And all of which are deadly.

Director:

Florin Piersic Jr.

Writers:

Dorina Chiriac, Florin Piersic Jr.

Stars:

Petre Fumuru, Dorina Chiriac, Doru Ana

Cast

Cast overview:
Petre Fumuru
Dorina Chiriac
Doru Ana
Monica Davidescu
Florin Piersic Jr.
Emanuel Parvu
Tudor Constantrin
Cristian Gutau
Mihai Bendeac
Adrian Mihai
Andrei Alexe
Tatiana Iekel
Florin Piersic

Storyline

This film is a puzzle, which fits together in many different ways, only one of which is right. And all of which are deadly.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [ro]

Country:

Romania

Language:

Romanian

Release Date:

14 October 2005 (Romania)

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artificial Horizon

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Black and White

User Reviews

A great example of how to make a bad movie from a good idea.

This is a movie which, although significantly different from the other Romanian films, cannot overcome the image of an awkward copy. First of all, it is defined as a "psychological thriller with inverted chronology". Which can be translated into long scenes shot with fixed cameras, containing nameless characters who speak to invisible interlocutors. As expected, the viewer has to complete the story puzzle on his own. Such scenes however, who make up the majority of the movie, are utterly boring: the monologues are too long and redundant and the photography, although dotted with interesting camera angles, is tiring the eye which constantly sees only head shots of the characters. The same "puzzle recipe" has been exploited in numerous other movies, most notably in "Memento". If until now we've only seen the "Fix", the "Alert" comes at the end. Just when you've made all connexions, realized all relationships and who is blackmailing who, the entire plot is served on a plate through the eyes of a child, introduced towards the end without any justification. This is even more bizarre since the previous scenes had been filmed with cameras placed in a microwave oven, a hole in a wall or a stereo, thus having no connection with the child's perspective. Furthermore, the "puzzle recipe" on which the entire movie was based so far, is completely annihilated. Even more, some characters from the "Fix" part no longer appear in the "Alert" part, rendering the story illogical. The actors have been directed to play as interiorised as possible, but their reasonable performance is undermined by the script. According to the director, this movie is intended mainly for the American market. Personally, I don't know how the very critical American audience will receive it, but the Romanian spectator easily recognizes American verbal clichés which sound far-fetched when translated into Romanian. There are also scenes where nothing happens and scenes completely irrelevant to the story. Verdict: not worth seeing unless you're a film student researching for a paper on bad movies.