His filmography actually dates back to being a script supervisor on masterwork 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, so Romanian filmmaker Alexandru Belc has had the opportunity to witness the burgeoning national cinema and new wave of filmmakers explore contemporary and Ceaușescu era issues in what would have been the early naughts and now it’s his turn to vividly depict the type of pervasive paranoia of life in a communist dictatorship. In Metronom, (selected for Un Certain Regard section of 2022 – where Belc won the Directing Prize) we go back in time to what it looks (and sounds) like when communism and the idea of a different future collide. Told via the perspective of teens (Mara Bugarin‘s Ana leads the cast) making the transition to an adult world via (with possibly devastating life-altering consequences) this is about knowing and affirming to one’s self just where limitations are in terms of ethics, morals and love.
While this was Bugarin’s first role her counter part & Șerban Lazarovici was first introduced to us with Radu Jude’s Uppercase Print. I had the chance to speak to both actors at the 2022 edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival – we discussed how they related to and taped into the mindset of these characters, how they related to the era itself, how it was to work with director Alexandru Belc and where they situate themselves in the current Romanian cinema scene.
