A Month in Thailand (2012) User Reviews (4)

Romanian New Wave - love it or hate it

[CrisPat · 6/10 · 13 April 2015]

Most of the other reviews of this movie have rightly warned you against it. It clearly belongs to the Romanian New Wave. It is exaggeratedly realistic, has no score, no cliffhangers and hardly any plot to speak of. Radu (Andrei Mateiu) spends one third with his girlfriend Adina with whom he rather unexpectedly breaks up, another third dawdling about and the last third making up with his old flame Nadia.

If you like action-packed thrillers, this isn't for you. If you like laugh-out-loud comedies, not for you. If you believe movies are there to help you wind down after a work day, are tired or not in the mood to follow a plot which is all over the place, again it's not for you. Yes, Radu and Adina have very dull sex in the beginning which might mean their relationship is on the ropes. But then they spend five minutes arguing over what gift to buy Adina's father and that's not connected whatsoever with the rest of the story. Be warned: for the Romanian New Wave, the cinematic tenet "If you see a man with an umbrella, it will rain further down the movie" holds no value, that's not how their scripts are written.

Next time you go with your mates to the pub, take a camera with you and secretly film proceedings. Everyone will be natural, there will be banter and the conversation will swing from Janet's love life to Harry's going to see his uncle in Birmingham. If you stretch it to over one hour and get Hi Film (this movie's production company and a local heavyweight of the new current) to produce it, you might be in for some awards. Just make sure everything is "realistic".

Again I'll have to disagree with the other reviewers who put the acting and directing down. It's really difficult to do long scenes where you read some boring dialogue and have to "act naturally". The actors here pull it off without a hitch and the special award goes to old flame Nadia (Sinziana Nicola at her feature debut) when she complains in the closing scenes about Radu's past treatment of her. Credit also to the director (Paul Negoescu) who kept everyone's acting in line and made it so very… "realistic" (I'm abusing this word but it's the Romanian New Wave's trademark).

You need some sort of connection with the movie to make it through its 84 minutes as it is not everyone's cup of tea. Circumstances have clicked for me and in a weird sort of way I enjoyed this movie (I think). It was… well… realistic.

loved it

[mihai-mirosanu · 7/10 · 10 September 2022]

Like others said. It's a romanian movie, don't expect action or comedy, it's just an idea placed in a movie. It could happen, I'm pretty sure it happens often. Maybe the charcaters are dull but that's the context, actually some of the moments are romanian authenthic, no doubt about it.

I liked that I somehow felt a bit young again, watching the New Year Eve events in this movie.. I've been through some of those and it felt nice to re-watch them again.. such simpler times and yet they felt so complicated back in the days. I guess we never knew what comes later.

Give it a chance, it might catch on you.

The ones looking for the The Power of Love remix at the end, search for Minus - Neptun (Heading for Something) on YouTube ;(

A waste of time and space

[neamtzu_rau · 1/10 · 20 September 2013]

Not only does this flick promote clichés, demoting women to servile, selfless weaklings, only there to be used by selfish bastards (like our hero), it does so while pretending it's something new altogether.

Director Paul Negoescu's debut is no gem. It does not reinvent the wheel. It doesn't even pose any real, mature questions regarding the human condition.

Instead, all we get to see is banter. People wasting air and giving out ideas like they're nothing. Sure, life in Bucharest can be boring, but when you're as confusing an ex with your current GF, that's when problems emerge. It feels truncated somehow. The subtext is missing. I don't know, every love story needs an alibi.

You'll find none in this movie. And I'm being gentle.

Awful acting, terrible directing

[paul-756-955727 · 1/10 · 5 August 2013]

I think I can safely say this film was a terrible waste of time. First of all, the title is very misleading, as there will not even be a glimpse of the beautiful beaches and resorts in Thailand, rather, the audience will treated to images of the dusty streets and cheesy night clubs of Bucharest, the Romanian capital. Thailand is only mentioned, repeatedly, as a cheap exotic vacation spot, "only the plane ticket costing a little bit more". The film starts on New Year's eve with a sex scene between Radu and his girlfriend, Adina. This however, is not a quality sex scene in any way, being devoid of any hint of passion or emotion. You might be forgiven to believe that the guy is having sex with a random street prostitute. Any decent director would have sent this scene directly to the cutting board, but it seems Mr. Negoescu decided it should be good enough for the pornographic subculture of the Romanian youth. The movie goes on to show a bunch of trivial and meaningless dialog and, skipping to the middle of the movie, Radu, without any particular reason, dumps Adina and begins a journey through cheesy nightclubs, trying to find his ex girlfriend, Nadia. Adina's character ends abruptly, never to be seen again in the film. The movie goes on with some more meaningless dialog between Radu and his either drunk or stoned friends and culminates with him eventually finding the apparent love of his life, Nadia. Nadia, unsurprisingly, is not happy about his intentions, reminding Radu that he has broken her heart and she has since moved on. However, after a fight that almost becomes physical, she suddenly has a change of heart and seems to have forgiven him. The film ends exactly as it began, in Radu's nearly dilapidated apartment with another sex scene, just as bad as the first one.