So here we go, a recommendation of movies you can catch in the days leading up to Christmas.<\/p>\n
Bucharest is doing well, as usual. Cinema Elvire Popescu<\/a> has a particularly good schedule for these weeks. Bogdan Mure\u0219anu\u2019s Anul Nou care n-a fost\/ The New Year That Never Came<\/em><\/a> <\/em>is still going strong after a very successful run in theatres, and with its focus on the Revolution of 1989 it is such a fitting show for December. I was happy to see Bogdan Theodor Olteanu\u2019s Taximetri\u0219ti<\/em><\/a> screened again, a funny, irreverent ride through Bucharest at night, mostly set in (well) a taxi. Among the many Christmas releases, many of them for children, there is a classic with more bite, Charles Laughton\u2019s fantastically dark, tense, much-quoted 1955 noir The<\/em> Night of the Hunter<\/em><\/a>. At the opposite scale of threat and doom, but no less clever, is another classic, and of my absolute all-time favourites, Ernst Lubitsch\u2019s perfect Christmas rom-com The Shop Around the Corner<\/em><\/a> (1940). Fun fact, it got remade in 1998 by Nora Ephron with You\u2019ve Got Mail<\/em><\/a>, a respectable pic in its own right, but the original is superior and superb, and Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan are the pairing of comedy dreams. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Cinema Europa<\/a> is hosting weekends of holiday films. This one it\u2019s a Harry Potter marathon while the next brings wholesome comfort classic and ultimate family pic Miracle on 34th Street<\/em><\/a> (George Seaton, 1947) and the mother of all Christmas action movies, John McTiernan\u2019s 1988 Die Hard<\/em><\/a>. What a mix!<\/p>\n Miracle on 34th Street<\/em> seems to be everywhere these days, and rightfully so. I am also happy it’s the original and not the 1994 eponymous remake. You can also catch it at Victoria cinema<\/a> in Cluj and at Timi\u0219<\/a> in Timi\u0219oara.<\/p>\n Here they also show Justine Triet\u2019s Anatomy of a Fall<\/em><\/a> (at cinema Victoria<\/a>), one of the best recent thrillers, and anything but a cozy watch. But it is set in the mountains in winter and I am glad if this was the reason to programme now a film that leaves you with a bucketload of (moral) dilemmas. \u00a0<\/p>\n Finally, at the end I am making a full circle and returning to Anul Nou care n-a fost\/ The New Year That Never Came<\/em>. The drama is also showing in Timi\u0219oara but not without a discussion. On 15 December, Timi\u0219<\/a> is organising a talk about the passing of 35 years since the Revolution and their perception today. And since Timi\u0219oara started the protests that eventually toppled the communist regime in mid-December of 1989, it is the best place to invite everyone to join the debate.<\/p>\n By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, <\/em>ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n (Photo info & source: detail from\u00a0The Shop Around the Corner poster by Ralf Liebhold\/ Dreamstime<\/a>)<\/em> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n