IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.

For this Sunday Kino Night, we’re starting with The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005), a Romanian satire about an old working-class man who must navigate a comically hellish health-care system in search of some medical care for his headaches and stomach cramps. Frustration ensues, while his condition deteriorates. This is one of the definitive films of the Romanian New Wave movement, one of the country’s highest-rated films on Letterboxd, and the best-known and best-regarded work of director Cristi Puiu. A good companion piece to I, Daniel Blake (2016), which we watched last week. Looks cool; let’s watch.

After that is Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), a Hollywood period-melodrama-romance set in Austria circa 1900, about a man who intends to skip town to flee a duel, only to receive a letter from a woman confessing her undying love for him, and her years of attempts to get his attention. She may even hold the key to his undoing if he continues to ignore her. Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember her. Aaaaah! How’s he gonna get out of this one? I guess we’ll find out. This is one of the best-regarded films of director Max Ophuls, who specialized in costume melodramas, including the equally-acclaimed The Earrings of Madame de… (1953), which we will also have to watch some time.

We’ll start at 8PM EST on Hextube, right here:

https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• The Death of Mr. Lazarescu: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-death-of-mr-lazarescu/
• Letter from an Unknown Woman: https://letterboxd.com/film/letter-from-an-unknown-woman/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• The Death of Mr. Lazarescu: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456149/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg
• Letter from an Unknown Woman: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040536/

CWs for The Death of Mr. Lazarescu:

• Nudity.
• Blood.
• Bodily fluids.
• Hospital scenes.
• Profanity.
• Capitalism.
• Sad ending.

CWs for Letter from an Unknown Woman:

• Smoking.
• Typhus epidemic.
• Pregnancy.
• Implied extramarital sex.
• Single mother.
• Stalking.

Links to movies:

• The Death of Mr. Lazarescu: https://tankie.tube/w/19burMZGjtkefXVbH4iHkE
• Letter from an Unknown Woman: https://tankie.tube/w/uU9mSMZkBjHU56GAzkKAW8