Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #148. Sebastian Mihăilescu’s Mammalia

Mammalia

Production on Sebastian Mihăilescu‘s debut film (it was known as Double Happiness then) in October of 2021 and it received an invite to Berlinale’s Forum section. The Romanian filmmaker’s Mammalia is described as a surreal drama exploring contemporary masculinity via a man who wakes to discover his penis has disappeared during the night. Bucharest is the film’s backdrop. Microfilm’s Diana Păroiu and Ada Solomon produced the film. The cast includes István Téglás, Mălina Manovici, Denisa Nicolae, Steliana Bălăcianu, Rolando Matsangos, Mirela Crețan, Andreea Gheorghe, Mircea Bujoreanu, Marian Pîrvu, Dan Zarug Mihai, and Elena Chingălată.

Gist: This follows a 39-year-old man who embarks on a dreamlike journey where the mundane and the fantastic intertwine. With the loss of control over his job, social status and love relationship, he ventures on a quest that makes him question his identity and masculinity. Following his partner, he ends up in a bizarre community with disturbing rituals, where he eventually experiences a tragicomic reversal of roles.

Release Date/Prediction: This was invited to the Berlinale’s Forum section.