Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

AroView: Presenting Romania as something of a 21st century basket case, this brilliantly bonkers arthouse comedy centres around a mild-mannered teacher whose leaked sex tape with her husband causes a furore with the staff and parents at her school.

After an intentionally confronting opening, director Radu Jude divides his cultural critique into three parts, the first presenting the streets of Bucharest as a city ravaged by soulless capitalism, the second is an irreverent tableau of Romanian historical injustices and hypocrisies, and the third is a hilarious absurdist interrogation and trial of the teacher by a diverse group of parents. Stick with it, and you’re in for something gloriously memorable.

Winner of the Best Feature Film 2021 Berlinale Film Festival and Romania’s entry into the 2022 Oscars for Best International Film.

“A simple premise can serve as a portal to profound social critique, for those willing to take the plunge.” ~Variety, Peter Debruge

“Shooting in the summer of 2020, Jude and his team were clearly constrained by the realities of Covid-19, but they also succeeded in turning a bad situation to creative advantage, facing the awfulness and absurdity of the present with wit, indignation and a saving touch of tenderness.” ~A.O. Scott, The New York Times