STUFF AND DOUGH

Written, Produced & Directed by Cristi Puiu

“The elements of a stripped-down highway thriller, a throwback to the American gear-grinders of the 1960s and ‘70s like TWO-LANE BLACKTOP or THE DUEL. But though it is suspenseful, unnerving and agile in its techniques, STUFF AND DOUGH has more than speed and danger on its mind… The brilliance of (the film) is that it wraps this powerful, disturbing drama in an anecdote from ordinary life… The acting is so accomplished as to be invisible… We marvel at the complication of the story and the clarity with which it has been told.”
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times

(4 stars)
“Extremely savage humor sprung fully formed into being. A dizzying combo of high and low, injecting the heady suspense of a Hollywood road chase into the cynical context of ex-Soviet opportunism.”
– Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out NY

“Suffused in natural light and crackling with background noise, Romania’s latest film import brims with the clatter of everyday life. A love song to the uninformed bravado of youth."
– Lisa Rosman, Flavorpill

THE ROMANIAN NEW WAVE CONTINUES with the release of STUFF AND DOUGH, the debut feature by Cristi Puiu, critically acclaimed director of THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU. Combing genres (the road movie, the buddy movie, the slacker story), he takes us in a rattle-trap van with a naïve young man, his pal and the pal’s girlfriend, en route to Bucharest to deliver a mysterious parcel for a local gangster. Their conversation and the action veers from the mundane and the idiotic to the sinister and the bizarre. Puiu’s sense of humor is never far from the surface, but neither is his notion that Romania is a land of serious contradictions, corruption, foolishness and brutality.

ROMANIA • 2001 • 91 MINUTES • IN ROMANIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES • MITROPOULOS FILMS