R.M.N. (2022)

R.M.N. (2022)

Not Rated

A scarily incisive look at xenophobia in small-town Europe

The Very Best

8.0

Movie

Drama
2022

The take

Set in a small town in Romania, R.M.N. is a challenging slow-burn that explores what happens to an insular community upon the arrival of immigrants from South Asia. Initially, the discrimination thrown at them seems tame; at the very least, it's how you'd expect a homogenous and tight-knit group to react to outsiders. But more and more, the prejudice takes on cruel forms. Stakes are raised until it becomes life or death for the people involved. 

It's a chilling examination of society, of the lengths people are willing to go to to avoid change and prolong their ignorance. But while there are few things scarier than the violence brought on by racism, the phantom elements in this film come close. Director Cristian Mungiu does an impressive job of painting his picture with a haunting tone; there are streaks of the supernatural in this film, making it a biting horror in more ways than one. 

As is often the case in great filmmaking, it’s hard to pin R.M.N. down to one genre, but thanks to its eerie perceptiveness, it goes down in history as one of the best films about xenophobia made. 

Comments

Add a comment

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

Falling in Love Like in Movies (2023)

A contemplative Indonesian romance film that rewrites and re-examines the genre’s conventions

8.4

The Guilty (2018)

A minimalist, razor-sharp thriller that will have you gasping for air.

9.0

Late Night with the Devil (2024)

Demons, and AI, are unleashed in this creepy pseudo-documentary of strange late night incident

7.5

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

A star-studded and riveting legal drama with a blockbuster feel.

8.1

The Peasants (2023)

DK Welchman returns to her roots in this oil-painted adaptation of the haunting Young Poland folk saga

7.6

Forgotten Love (2023)

The stunning third take of the classic Polish pre-war melodrama

7.7

River (2023)

A delightful and ultimately life-affirming Japanese time loop comedy clearly made with love

8.8

Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal (2024)

WWE’s best effort to pay tribute to Windham “Bray Wyatt” Rotunda

8.5

System Crasher (2019)

A tale of trauma and one of the most talked about movies on Netflix in 2020.

9.0

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Shyamalan meets Black Mirror in this hugely entertaining, visually inventive apocalyptic thriller with a killer ending

8.2

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.