Romanian film review – An Almost Perfect Family & Three Kilometres to the End of the World

Having premiered at Astra film fest, O familie aproape perfectă/An Almost Perfect Family is Tudor’s Platon’s second feature documentary. Just like in his lovable debut Casa cu păpuși/ House of Dolls, following his grandmother and her group of friends on their annual vacation together, Platon chooses his own family as the subject.

To the delight of her fans (and I am sure there are many), the hilarious grandmother, Cica, has a cameo in the present doc. This time, however, it is about her daughter’s perception of her: she recalls a distant, cool parent who managed to say “I love you” exactly once. And this describes the core of the film: How do different generations express feelings, how do they know themselves? We are witnessing Tudor's parents having grown apart while he meets his partner, Carla (Carla Fotea, the film’s producer), and starts a family. There are not many explanations, the film often jumps from one period to another, but it is pretty clear what is happening and how the younger generation tries to understand and avoid their parents’ mistakes in their own relationships.