‘R.M.N.’ Review: Cristian Mungiu’s Nightmarish Naturalism Detonates a Scabrous Social-Division Drama

The title is not, in the end, some kind of code for “Romania.” But if it were, it would be appropriate: The enormous, troubling, intricately pessimistic “R.M.N.” from director Cristian Mungiu, probably the pre-eminent filmmaker of the Romanian New Wave, is little less than a pared-back state of the nation, a microcosmic analogy for an entire shattered society boiled dry of its softening vowels, in which only the harder elements — the bigotries, the betrayals, and a surprising number of bears — remain. Laid out in discrete scenes of astonishing clarity and density, with the rigor of their construction belied… Read Full Article