Best Intentions

Running time: 105 mins

Everybody's advice is given with the best intentions - but sometimes the best intentions are not enough.

Alex is "neurotic, childish, and a bit of a control freak." With his mother diagnosed a stroke victim and hospitalised, he's thoroughly convinced he has reason for concern, and becomes ever more controlling and paranoiac. Though his mother seems to be improving, he's getting worse. Realism becomes surrealism.

Featuring another of his now trademark uses of first-person camera and Bogdan Dumitrache's beautifully naturalistic acting, Adrian Sitaru (Waves, Cinequest 2008; Hooked, 2009), with a sort of reverse Death of Mr Lazarescu (here the system works fine, it's Alex who is falling apart), turns Romanian New Wave conventions on their head, yielding unique insight into irrational behavior.

- Charlie Cockey

Sponsored by Applied Materials