GRADUATION – Rated R – 2 hrs 8 mins.

GRADUATION – Rated R – 2 hrs 8 mins.

(Original Title – Bacalaureat)

Starring Adrian Titieni, Maria-Victoria Dragus and Lia Bugnar 

Romanian born Cristian Mungiu writes and directs a tale of what lengths a father will go to in order provide the secure the best future for his child…this is GRADUATION.

Plotting the best way for his daughter to live out the life he always dreamed for her, we meet Father and Surgeon Romeo (Adrian Titieni), trying to make the most of his troubling life…

When his daughter Eliza (Maria-Victoria Dragus) is assaulted and just hours before her big test to secure her scholarship to Cambridge, Romeo struggles on what to do to make sure that his daughter not loose this opportunity, and alas her future…

Torn by his moralistic compass and what will ensure his daughter’s bright future, Romeo finds himself venturing down the path of using unsavory means, and people, to secure her scholarship and life in the UK, and living out the life he always dreamed she would…

I give GRADUATION a rating of DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY. Even though I was rather fond of the storyline premise of doing whatever it takes to secure the best life for your child – as I would do whatever I needed to do for my children’s sake too – this film’s depressing and dark feel, combined with the mediocre performances throughout, doesn’t make me want to send anyone to the theater to view it. Even the side story of infidelity, as a result of being trapped in a loveless marriage, didn’t add to this film’s appeal. And don’t think for one minute the fact that GRADUATION is a foreign film had anything to do with my distaste either, as I personally love experiencing foreign films, but GRADUATION lost it’s appeal to me about half way through, and never managed to get me back…

Kathy Kaiser