Never a Dull Moment: Radu Jude

Many leaders of modern Romanian cinema are celebrated for their pensive cameras, slow builds, and subtle dramaturgy. By contrast, Radu Jude’s prolific and much-lauded artistry has often proved more fiery, literally and otherwise. His florid, impudent style poses its own commentary on our brazen and spiraling era, even before each movie reveals its series of witty, provocative viewpoints on such raw-nerve subjects as cancel culture, media manipulation, and histories of genocide. Recent projects, including the current Diary of a Chambermaid, fold their shocks into a wider range of tones, and as we’ll see, even at their most volatile, Jude’s films are earnestly, compellingly thoughtful about tricky topics we all struggle to confront.

Recommended Viewing: Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2023) or Kontinental ’25 (2025)