Scraps on Cinema

Nestled in a valley beneath the Apuseni mountain range in the Western Carpathians is a rustic commune called Întregalde. Containing only a few hundred residents whose ages average around 60, scattered across some 85 square kilometers of temperate slopes and a few narrow roads that become virtually impassable in winter, Întregalde takes on the status of metonym in the Romanian writer-director Radu Muntean's new film of the same name. The film, co-written by Muntean and frequent collaborators Alexandru Baciu and Razvan Radulescu, depicts the misadventure of a trio of humanitarian aid volunteers - Maria (Maria Popistasu), Ilinca (Ilona Brezoianu), and Dan (Alex Bogdan) - as they deliver relief packages to the various villages all along the inscrutable byways of the Apuseni. The relief organization first assembles in a nearby town, apportions donated supplies, and splits off into separate teams that take different routes throughout the county. Maria initially sets off with a different ...

A first feature for director Andrew Gaynord, the British black comedy All My Friends Hate Me  stars co-writer Tom Stourton as Pete, a 30-something Londonite who sets out for the countryside for a reunion and birthday celebration with his mates from university. Eager to relive his imagined past as "Skippy," the captain of the party boat, he arrives at his friend George's posh family estate to find no one else around. Disappointed and offended, he waits well into the evening for them to come back. When they do return, he's met with surprise by Archie (Graham Dickson), the seemingly always inebriated party animal of the group. Archie tells him that George (Joshua McGuire) had only sent the invitation as a joke. Nobody wants him there. This turns out to be just a bit of cheap ribbing. Archie, George, his wife Fig (Georgina Campbell), and Pete's ex-lover Claire (Antonia Clarke), are all ecstatic to see him after so many years. When he implies that they left him behind,...