R.M.N.

A small town in Romania experiences the push-and-pull of economic migration in Cristian Mungiu’s increasingly tense drama.

Matthias is returning home to his small town after working abroad, and things have changed. His young son Rudi has witnessed something in the woods on the way to school and is rendered non-verbal as a result. His former flame Csilla runs a bread factory and is forced to recruit migrant workers when the locals refuse to work for minimum wage. Upon his return, Matthias discovers racism on the rise. It’s a racist slur here and there at first, but soon tensions increase.

Curator’s Note

Migration has been a key theme throughout Cristian Mungiu's film career.

In his newest film, Fjord, Mungiu casts Romanians as outsiders in Western Europe, considering how they are treated. However, in this earlier film, the gap left by emigration in the country is considered. Who fills that gap and what does that stir up in the people left behind?

R.M.N. is Cristian Mungiu's first film to directly address the domestic impact of Romania joining the European Union. The freedom to migrate is one, but so too is a collective anxiety that can turn dark, fast.