This weekend the weather seems to be just perfect for going out to a film or for a walk in the park, which can only be good news for us! The last series of our #weekendfilms recommendations happened in September, but we make up for it with a lot of Romanian films screening in cinemas, as well as some films that can be watched at home.

1. Alice T. (directed by Radu Muntean, drama) tells the story of Alice Tarpan who has, at almost 17 years old, a complicated adolescence. It’s not just about the school issues or the fact that she’s not certain with whom she got pregnant, but mostly because her adoptive mother found out about all of that.

If you want to discover the story of Alice T., you can watch the film premiere on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Union Cinema.

2. Coborâm la prima (directed by Tedy Necula, drama) – A subway stops between stations on the morning after the fire incident at the Colectiv Club. Each of them on its own way, the passengers find themselves stuck together and begin to interact. We’re strangers to each other until something brings us together. If we open up, we see that we have a lot to share with those around us. At the end of the journey, at the next station, everyone comes out transformed in their own way. We are close one to another in this world, just as we are in a subway car.

Coborâm la prima can be watched on Friday and Saturday at Happy Cinema and on Sunday at Happy Cinema and Peasant Museum Cinema.

3. The Guilty (directed by Gustav Möller, thriller) – Alarm dispatcher and former police officer, Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren), answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. When the call is suddenly disconnected, the search for the woman and her kidnapper begins. With the phone as his only tool, Asger enters a race against time to save the endangered woman. But soon he realizes that he is dealing with a crime that is far bigger than he first thought.

Intrigued enough? The Guilty can be watched this weekend on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Happy Cinema and Union Cinema.

BONUS: Two films that are not screening this weekend in cinemas, but which we recommend watching in the following week, are Lemonade and The Moromete Family 2.

Films to be watched at home with a large bowl of popcorn in your arms:

1. Of Snails and Men (directed by Tudor Giurgiu, comedy) – The end of communism brings economic difficulties due to a long-lasting unprofitable industry. The workers of a famous car factory find themselves in bankruptcy, facing a situation they haven’t encountered before: unemployment. Out of desperation, they will find the most original solution of all.

Fun fact: The comedy signed by Tudor Giurgiu, Of Snails and Men, is one of the most watched Romanian films in the last decade and is ranked number one in the 2012 top of Romanian films, by number of spectators.
The film can be watched on Cinepub right here.

2. Hello! How Are You? (directed by Alexandru Maftei; comedy, romance) – After 20 years of being happily married, Gabriel and Gabriela no longer feel attracted one to another. Is that all that life can offer them? After spending several nights communicating on the Internet with a stranger, they both fall in love – without knowing they actually found each other again.

The film received two Gopo Awards in 2012 (for costumes and best makeup and hair) and three nominations (for best cinematography, best editing, and best original score).
If you are a fan of Rupert Holmes’s Escape, then surely you will want to watch this film on Saturday, November 10th, at 11:00 pm on TVR3.

3. WALL • E (directed by Andrew Stanton, animation) – We end the series of our monthly recommendations with a classic animation, of which you have certainly heard before. It’s 2700, and the Earth is covered by garbage as a result of centuries of reckless consumerism. People have abandoned Terra leaving behind an army of small robots whose task is to make the planet habitable once more. Due to a programming error, the only active robot left is the small Wall-E. He falls in love with Eve, a robot sent by people to see how operations are going on Terra. Wall-E has only one dream, to find a home in the Universe. Will it turn into reality?

As usual, we cannot end #weekendfilms without some fun facts:

• This is the first Pixar film to be nominated for 6 Academy Awards. This ties it with the only other animated film to garner these many nominations: Beauty and the Beast (1991).
• Elissa Knight, who provides the voice of EVE is not an actress, but an employee of Pixar.
• Andrew Stanton claimed that the film’s central theme was that irrational love can defeat everything, including programming.
• The film has a dedication to Justin Wright, a 27-year-old Pixar animator who died from a heart attack.

Wall-e can be seen on Friday, November 9th, starting 8:30 PM on HBO 2 and HBO 2 HD.

Romina Banu

Photographer and editor; she co-founded Dissolved Magazine together with Melissa. For Films in Frame she gathers film and TV series recommendations for lazy weekends and she writes about interesting projects from the film industry. Other than that, she likes traveling, chilling with her cats and sleeping.