În fiecare zi Dumnezeu ne saruta pe gura (2001)
Directed by
Sinisa Dragin
Also Known As:
Everyday God Kisses Us on the Mouth (International: English title)
Runtime: Netherlands:93 min / Netherlands:95 min (Rotterdam Film Festival)
Country: Romania
Language: Romanian
Color: Black and White
Sound Mix: Mono
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309705/
surreal, dreamlike, unorthodox...see it.
This film was shown as "Every Day God Kisses Us On The Mouth" at the Philadelphia Film Festival this year to a surprisingly large crowd; it was met with more than its share of confused silence. I think the audience expected something different then what was on screen...Personally I went in expecting a film about a serial killer and his pet goose, something akin to a Romanian twist on Gaspar Noe's utterly brilliant "Seul Contre Tous". Sure, that's perhaps a fraction of it, but as the film moves forth, it reveals itself to be a highly surreal, unorthodox, and sad film.
I find the plot very hard to summarize because there is so much of it, for better or worse depending upon who views the film. The first hour or so follows a fairly steady course. Dimitru has just been released from jail, and upon returning home finds his wife pregnant with his brother's child. The plot also involves murder, arson, pet geese, and some truly incredible, dreamlike imagery very much befitting a film so bizarre. In a way the film becomes a series of very interesting, very lovely, but very frustrating paintings. I can't recommend this film to everyone or pretend to have made sense of the whole affair, but to those willing to experience a film very unique, beautiful, and haunting, you will find your efforts to find this film richly rewarded.
"The murders in Every Day God Kisses Us on the Mouth occur predominantly off-screen and in an off-hand manner, rendered almost unreal by the expressionist black-and-white visuals. Against the backdrop of the post-Communist 'idiocy of village life' and its moral stupor, the wickedness of convicted killer Dumitru (Dan Condurache) looks like a perfectly normal survival skill. On a symbolic level, however, Dumitru's inhuman torment is a path to divine revelation. Haunted by surreal visions of his beloved wife, he marries a deaf-mute girl, but when she turns into a white goose Dumitru sees it as the beginning of yet another vicious cycle and summons death. In an act of diabolical reversal, God 'kisses him on the mouth' by keeping him alive as evil incarnate, and Dumitru comes to believe that he is now a part of His plans. Thus Dumitru the trickster becomes a spiritual werewolf, both bestial and superhuman, stuck between life and death, the demonic and the sacred."—Christina Stojanova
One of my favorite films at the Seattle international film festival (SIFF2003), and I had the chance to see it again during a brief run. I agree with the positive comments by other readers. A true cinematic gem, told in a folkloric tragedy. But there's this one scene that i absolutely love because it's a tribute to early german expressionist cinema. The way it is shot and edited, is what excellent cinema survives on. I know that sounds very vague, but that's how speechless the scene leaves me. Ok here it is: This is a possible spoiler so don't read on if you don't want to know the plot:
During one murder scene: it is night. THe victim is in the outside bathroom (small cabin) and the killer approaches. He has a white goose under his armpit. The victim sees the killer thru the square window on the door.
1)The face of the killer approaches (POV of victim) 2) CUT TO: goose flapping winds while shrieking in the air 3) CUT TO: THe face of victim steps back and disapears into the darkness of the cabin 4) CUT TO: killer enters cabin and the cabin shakes while we hear grunts and moans and while farm equipment that were leaning against the cabin fall to the ground.
I mean, this is stuff that is very simple but once constructed it looks amazing and cinematic. And there are plenty of scenes like this. I think this is a marvelous accomplishment. Congrats to the filmmaker.
Romania Cinema - In Fiecare Zi Dumnezeu Ne Saruta Pe Gura.avi 
(581mb, 5 sources now.)
