The World Is Mine

I only write a review for this because the other review here is unfair, and I'm ticked off by racist slurs like "gypsy criminal music" for Manele, which doesn't appear that much in the film. And there isn't much profanity, don't get your hopes up. My guess is the reviewer was outraged at the "gypsy sweet-talks stupid girl and then dumps her like garbage" plot element. It doesn't really matter though that the guy is a Rom, and there's a more vicious scumbag later in the film who is not of that ethnicity.

It's true that this is a very predictable "rebellious teenage girl's descent into hell" story, a genre Romanian film deals with a lot because it works well with film festivals. And indeed, this won best debut feature at the two main Romanian festivals, which means some people think the director might be the next Porumboiu or Puiu. I hope not because of the cliché water symbolism and weak script, but all these new Cinema Verité guys started out with stories like this.

In short, this is not a disturbingly misogynist teen girl film like, for instance "WebSiteStory", and not a careful portrait like "American Honey". It's boring standard Romanian realist film festival fare.