Weekend films

'Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World', a great reflection on today's world

The new feature film by Radu Jude, a Romanian director and one of the most interesting names in European cinema, arrives in cinemas

15 November 2024

Una scena del film «Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World»

3' min read

In a weekend where there is no shortage of commercially highly anticipated films, starting with Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator 2', from an artistic point of view the spotlight can only go to Radu Jude's 'Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World', a real gem simply not to be missed by any self-respecting cinephile.

Look for it in the theatres where it is screened, you won't regret it, also because the Romanian director - already winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2021 with 'Unlucky Sex or Porn Madness' - is today one of the most significant names in contemporary European cinema.

The protagonist is Angela, a girl who drives through Bucharest to film the casting of a video commissioned by a multinational on the subject of safety at work. Overworked and underpaid, she also shoots a lot of videos for her social profiles, using a filter that turns her into an alter ego full of anger and bearer of extremely populist messages.

Divided into two parts (separated by an interlude of crosses symbolising different victims of car accidents), 'Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World' alternates in its first section the story of Angela, depicted in a dirty black and white of extreme realism, with images from a film made in 1982, entitled 'Angela merge mai departe', enhanced by bright colours and 35mm film.

Through a structure similar to that of his previous feature, Jude gives life to a merciless insight into contemporary society, comparing Romania today with Romania at the time of Ceaușescu's dictatorship.

“Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” e gli altri film della settimana
Photogallery4 foto

The Apocalypse of Images

Today's world is represented in an almost science-fiction-like manner, through highly original aesthetics and formal experimentation, with the constant aim of representing reality: the media universe is shown as a place of hypocrisy and lies, characterised by an audiovisual bombardment so aggressive that it turns into a symbolic Apocalypse where only images survive.

High references (such as Jean-Luc Godard) and low ones mingle in this feature film that is as sarcastic as it is profound, capable of delivering one of the most intense audiovisual experiences of the entire season.

Baroque, exaggerated and over-the-top: 'Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World' is one of those films that don't leave us at the end of the credits and by far one of the year's most capable products of generating numerous interpretations.

Stranger Eyes

Screen images also feature prominently in 'Stranger Eyes', a film from Singapore by Yeo Siew Hua, a director who made a name for himself with his previous feature, 2018's 'A Land Imagined', with which he won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival.

At the centre of the narrative is a young couple who, after the mysterious disappearance of their daughter, start receiving strange videos and realise that someone has filmed their daily life, even their most intimate moments. The police put the house under surveillance to try to catch the alleged kidnapper, but the family begins to crumble as secrets are revealed under the watchful gaze of eyes that observe them from all sides.

Control images, surveillance videos, but also amateur video cameras, webcams, mobile phones and family films: the forms of recording are piled on top of each other within this feature film that opens, not surprisingly, with a video that is seen and reviewed, analysed and studied.

Seeing 'Stranger Eyes', one cannot help but be reminded of several feature films from the past, from Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rear Window' to Michael Haneke's 'Nothing to Hide': the feeling of having seen it all before is strong and lacks a hint of originality, but the film is engaging and also delivers a number of surprising twists and turns.