In a labyrinthine Bucharest apartment, a cantankerous extended family has gathered 40 days after its patriarch’s death for a memorial service. Dark truths of the family’s past slowly emerge as everyone wrestles with the patriarch’s complicated legacy. As claustrophobia mounts, heated, humorous exchanges— about the old Communist days and the present age of terror—coalesce into a fascinatingly observed portrait of Romanian family life and personal and social disquiet.

Reviews: Brooklyn Magazine, Reverse Shot, Cinema Scope, Sight & Sound, The Film Stage

Interviews: Interview with Cristi Puiu at Film Comment

Filmography: Aurora (2010), The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005)