ONE FLOOR BELOW (Un Etaj Mai Jos)
Contemporary World Cinema D: Radu Muntean. Romania/France/Germany/Sweden. 93 min. Sep 12, 7:45 pm TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 Sep 14, 8:45 am AGO. Rating: NNNN
Walking his dog one evening, family man Sandu (Teodor Corban) stumbles upon his two downstairs neighbours Vali (Iulian Postelnicu) and Laura (Maria Popistasu) in a heated argument. Later, when Laura turns up dead, Sandu is convinced Vali has murdered her.
The Romanian New Wave gets Hitchcockian in Muntean’s riff on Rear Window: Sandu doesn’t turn Vali in, but Vali starts finding reasons to insinuate himself into Sandu’s household.
Romanian cinema doesn’t do grand gestures instead One Floor Below watches dispassionately as Sandu’s complicity grinds against his conscience and stress fractures start to appear.