The New York Times by Devika Girish
The film, a rousing, form-bending new feature by the Romanian auteur Radu Jude, rails at the tyrannical potential of language — particularly when backed by government power — to suffocate people’s freedoms.
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
Radu Jude
Cast
Bogdan Zamfir,
Serban Lazarovici,
Ioana Iacob,
Șerban Pavlu,
Alexandru Potocean,
Silvian Vâlcu
Genre
Documentary,
Drama,
History
In 1980s Romania, teenager Mugur Călinescu starts writing uppercase graffiti messages protesting the regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, demanding democracy and freedom. Soon, Romanian secret police begin interrogating those around him in order to find the culprit of the messages. This is his story.
The New York Times by Devika Girish
The film, a rousing, form-bending new feature by the Romanian auteur Radu Jude, rails at the tyrannical potential of language — particularly when backed by government power — to suffocate people’s freedoms.
Screen Daily by Jonathan Romney
Working with Carbunariu, Jude offers a spare, visually striking evocation of the methods of Ceausescu’s secret police, the Securitate, in its pursuit and punishment of a young dissident.
Austin Chronicle by Josh Kupecki
Jude and Cărbunariu have brought Mugur Călinescu back to life, and woven him into a complex tapestry that reveals a country’s history as a most fragile trompe l’oeil.
Los Angeles Times by Carlos Aguilar
Shouting in all-caps about unions and shortages of food, Călinescu symbolizes the power of individuals that dare to discern from their own personal trenches, regardless of how insignificant they may seem.
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Dalton
This may be one of Jude’s minor works, but it delivers a quietly devastating emotional punch.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
It is a fierce and impassioned denunciation of evil.
Slant Magazine by William Repass
The film metatextually insists that we not be taken in by new, more sophisticated methods of obfuscation.
The New Yorker by Richard Brody
Jude, with his multiple dimensions of inquiry and imagination, poses philosophical questions about conscience and consciousness, media consumption and social order, that reach far beyond the case and era at hand to challenge the deceptions and delusions of ostensible present-day democracies.
Variety by Jessica Kiang
In Uppercase Print, the fangs of the past are sharp, but muzzled.
Loading recommendations...
Loading recommendations...