Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu • 2018 • Romania
Starring Laurentiu Ginghina
Romanian New Wave leader Corneliu Porumboiu (12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST) directs this at once hilarious and poignant look at an ordinary man’s extraordinary ambitions. Ever since a leg fracture ended his aspirations of becoming a soccer player, Laurentiu Ginghina, now a bureaucrat working in a drab government office, has devoted himself, with single-minded zeal, to reinventing the game, proposing it be radically altered (starting with reimagining the shape of the field as an octagon) in order to reduce player injuries. With both humor and humanity, Porumboiu’s marvelously offbeat, continually surprising documentary introduces us to an unforgettable individual, a self-proclaimed superman whose quixotic quest mirrors the hopes and dreams of his own country.
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