Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2015: #98. Radu Muntean’s One Floor Below

Published on January 5, 2015

One Floor Below

Director: Radu Muntean // Writers: Radu Muntean, Rãzvan Rãdulescu, Alexandru Baciu.

With his four previous features, this Romanian director was flying under the shadow of some of the more notable New Romanian Wave names until the premiere of his last title, 2010’s Tuesday, After Christmas, (we interviewed him here) unveiled in Un Certain Regard at Cannes. While it went home empty handed, its slow international roll out snagged Muntean an increased reputation, eclipsing the solid reception of previous titles like Summer Holiday (2008), The Paper Will Be Blue (2006) and Furia (2002). His latest, One Floor Below, stars Teodor Corban (from 12:08 East of Bucharest) and concerns a middle-aged man who is the sole witness to a domestic quarrel that ends in murder.

Cast: Teodor Corban, Iulian Postelnicu

Producers: Multimedia East’s Dragos Valcu (Tuesday, After Christmas), Les Films de l’Apres-midi’s Francois D’Artemare (Children of Sarajevo), Beck Film & TV AB’s Anna Croneman (Itsi Bitsi).

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available.

Release Date: Filming began last August, and with the celebrated reception of Tuesday, After Christmas, we’re assuming Muntean will skip Berlin and try for Cannes (where 2008’s Summer Holiday also premiered), though we’re unsure if he’ll break into the Main Competition.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.