Kontinental ’25

Radu Jude has always struck me as both an iconoclast and an internet troll, often simultaneously. His films are abrasive, formally adventurous, and possessed of a uniquely dark sense of humor that sets him apart even from Romania’s most celebrated filmmakers. That’s what makes Kontinental ’25 such a pleasant surprise. Rather than sacrificing his edge, Jude finds a balance here between his usual provocation and something genuinely moving. Of the films I’ve seen from him, this is the one I’d hand to a newcomer and say, “Start here?”

The film follows Orsolya (Eszter Tompa), a bailiff in Cluj who is tasked with evicting a homeless man from a cellar. After giving him a few minutes to gather his belongings, she returns to discover he has taken his own life. What follows is a slow-burning moral crisis as Orsolya struggles to understand her role, however indirect, in the tragedy. Jude’s Silver Bear-winning screenplay is remarkably precise in how it escalates her guilt and uncertainty, turning a seemingly simple premise into a deeply unsettling examination of responsibility.

In classic Jude fashion, the people Orsolya encounters during her unraveling are eccentric, blunt, and often very funny in uncomfortable ways. What impressed me most, though, is how accessible the film feels compared to much of his work. While Romanian politics, housing issues, and post-socialist realities are embedded throughout, the film never requires specialized knowledge to understand its emotional core. The themes of neglect, systemic failure, and the compromises people make to live with themselves translate effortlessly.

I kept thinking of Parasite – not because the films are stylistically similar, but because both manage to feel intensely local and completely universal at the same time. Kontinental ’25 examines how vulnerable people are abandoned by the systems around them and how ordinary people become complicit in that abandonment. It’s probably my favorite Jude film alongside Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, feeling like a quieter, more disciplined companion piece to many of the same ideas. The result is one of his most approachable films, but no less sharp or politically potent for it.