EXT. CAR. NIGHT, a new film by Andrei Crețulescu

EXT. CAR. NIGHT stars four emblematic actors of the new wave who play multiple roles

Corina Sabău, 26.10.2024, 14:35

EXT. CAR. NIGHT, the second feature film directed and written by Andrei Crețulescu, stars four emblematic actors of the new wave who play multiple roles: Rodica Lazăr, Șerban Pavlu, Andi Vasluianu and Dorian Boguță. Consisting of three parts, filmed in sequence shots, EXT. CAR. NIGHT combines several genres and styles, building a story about how (NOT) to make a film – “A making-of with an air of absurd/postmodernist chronicle”, as the director notes. In the opinion of actor Şerban Pavlu, the film “is unique in all respects: the way it is written, edited, the cast of the film, which does several things, including my character.”

Here is Andrei Crețulescu.

“It’s a very Romanian film. Sure, people can say, but all Romanian films can be considered very Romanian. It’s true, but this one, although it may seem difficult or rambunctious, is also very retro, it’s also very ‘spoken word’, and that’s why I refer to this as “very Romanian”. It is a very talked about film, moreover, I have the feeling – already confirmed by the audience’s reaction, both at TIFF and at the premiere screenings – that it is a film that the Romanian-speaking audience can vibe with a little more. But obviously, when I said that it is Romanian, I did not mean that it is a film intended only for the public here. I said that it is very Romanian, because, as is already known, it is a very, very spoken word film. That’s why I think that the native Romanian audience has a huge advantage over viewers who are forced to read the subtitles, where you obviously lose almost half of the meaning of the dialogues. It’s also a difficult to impossible film to market, because no matter how much you want to put your finger on it, and say it fits into this genre, any possible classification will be wrong from the start, because there’s no way to include practically all the steps this movie walks on, like a ball in a match, if you will. That’s why there will be viewers who will see it as a thriller, others will see it as a comedy or satire, others will detect the meta-cinematic discourse. All these definitions and framings are correct. Actually, there is no perfect definition, but there is no wrong one, so to speak. It’s several movies in one. It’s a lot of movies in one.”

EXT. CAR. NIGHT is a bloody thriller that turns into its own “making of”, but also a conversation about film, about fear and fiction. It premiered during the Romanian Film Days at TIFF (Transilvania International Film Festival), and was recently launched in cinemas in the country.

Andrei Crețulescu.once again:

“Actually, initially I was planning a real thriller, a classic thriller, so to speak, a thriller with 10 characters who are stuck in a mountain cabin by the storm and who end up, for various reasons, killing each other. It was a very gory story, and sounded very good on paper as a script. But the pandemic came, and we had to rethink the whole enterprise. And beyond the pandemic, I also became a father, and I thought then that a movie in which people kill each other might not represent me at that moment. So I thought it would be more exciting, more challenging, to make a film about how a thriller is made, to make a film about some people who want to make a bloody thriller. So the original thriller somehow exists in this film, only it has a different perspective. On the other hand, I thought it would be simpler if instead of a film with ten actors in the cast we have a film with only four actors. But these four actors play about 12 characters in total. So I won and I didn’t win, so to speak. And it was much more difficult, because we somehow imposed on ourselves from the beginning this structure of composing the film from three large frames, to be cast in shot-sequence, i.e. without cutting. And that was hard for everyone on the team, except for me, let’s say. It’s hard for absolutely everyone, but at the same time it’s even more exciting because it’s more honest. With no cuts, everything that happens happens in front of you. Without cuts, you don’t have detailed shots, you don’t have close-ups. I, as the author of the film, do not condition your perspective, I do not constrain you – through editing – to whom or what to look at. You, the viewer, have a painting and you choose to look at what you think fascinates or intrigues you. That’s why the plan-sequence seems to me to be a somewhat more honest proposal in our very special relationship, director – spectator.”

Codruța Crețulescu, Vlad Rădulescu and Claudiu Mitcu are the producers of the film, from Kinosseur, Avanpost Media and Wearebasca. The image of the film is signed by Andrei Butică, the editing was done by Cătălin Cristuțiu, the sets and costumes by Mălina Ionescu. The sound engineer is Alexandru Dragomir, and Marius Leftărache signs the sound design. Andrei Crețulescu was noted by critics in 2015, when the short film RAMONA was awarded at Cannes, in the Semaine de la Critique section. His debut feature, CHARLESTON (2017), had its world premiere in the Locarno Competition, was screened in over 30 international festivals, and was a hit with audiences in Romania.