It would be simple to call Radu Jude’s “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” this year’s “Triangle of Sadness.” That would both undervalue its originality and overestimate its commercial and awards-season potential. Instead, “Do Not Expect” is a singular beast, a rude and rambunctious nearly 3-hour journey that tracks a day in the life of overworked gig economy hustler Angela (Ilinca Manolache). While she manages an impossible daily routine, she’s taking a breather only for an occasional quickie or to summon her hysterical TikTok alter ego, Bobita. Much like Jude’s scandalous “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” this a provocation with a point. The naughty sense of humor only amplifies the abundant tension and zany fun. Manolache’s revelatory performance elevates this hugely entertaining film to giddy heights, while retaining a somber, sympathetic eye towards the misfortune of its put-upon subjects.
Radu Jude Playfully Attacks Society’s Flaws
Jude attacks society’s flaws with such a playful and modern sensibility that it’s easy to lose track of the film’s ambition and how precisely it captures the sad state of the world’s geopolitics. But really, it’s about Angela’s life, and it dissects the hardships she endures—and conquers—through an experimental narrative structure that pairs black and white photography (in her scenes) with occasional color and frequent callbacks to the Romanian film “Angela Moves On” (1981), ostensibly about a lonely cab driver and the injustices she faces in her attempt to simply live and work. Dorina Lazar, who played Angela in “Moves On,” appears uncredited in a key role as the matriarch of a family whom this film’s Angela interviews for work.
The nature of the project Angela is working on is revealed methodically. The pleasure comes from the layering of absurd details and mind-numbing corporate blabber amid frantic calls from her colleagues. In a conference room, Angela and some co-workers Zoom with Doris Goethe (Nina Hoss, stellar once more), a floating head on a screen who wants to film a workplace safety commercial. The people Angela interviews are presented: a paralyzed mother is approved because she’s a woman, then disregarded because she’s a “gypsy.” A young man is selected because he is wheelchair-bound and has a family, but on the condition he omits his last name, which means “buttock” in Romanian. The office scenes are frustratingly funny, and entirely too realistic, unveiling these desk soldiers who keep a straight face while purporting delusional claims about how they’re working for the victims, not their soulless employer.
Nina Hoss in “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” (Photo: New York Film Festival 2023).
Hints of Haneke and Akerman, Contained Within Jude’s Satirical Distinctiveness
It feels perfunctory to comment on the film’s length since it might make a potential viewer weary. But Jude’s film is never a chore. It’s got plenty on its mind but has the skill to balance polemic with pure entertainment. In that way, it’s on par with Ruben Östlund’s picture. But its skill is to zero in on one person. It allows the audience to extrapolate the socioeconomic crookery outward rather than the other way around. The most startling and effective example of this is when Angela picks up Doris at the airport. She tells her that she’ll avoid one road on the way back because of how many deaths it’s caused. The number of crosses—honoring the dead—outnumbers the kilometers of that road by a ratio of six to one.
For emphasis, Jude then switches to color, turning all sound—besides traffic—down and showing all six hundred crosses. This technique resembles the forty-minute sequence in “Bad Luck Banging” when the director took us from A-Z. He depicts a history of atrocities, repression, and textbook blowjob technique. This gear shift, forcing us to slow down and engage with the message, brings “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” closer to Michael Haneke’s “The Seventh Continent” (1989) or Chantal Akerman’s “Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles“ (1975), two stark and slow-burning character studies which challenge viewers with quotidian routine and universal despair. But Jude’s latest triumph isn’t a ripoff of those masterpieces. Rather, it expresses a distinct sensibility coming from one of the most daring and direct statement-makers in international cinema today.
Something of a Miracle
More a sprint than a marathon, Jude’s film just keeps coming at us. So much time is spent in Angela’s car, and the camera is placed in the passenger’s seat, strapping the audience in for the ride. It’s hilarious (especially Bobita, a vulgar philistine who detests women and loves Putin), full of anger and vigor, but never self-serious or overly meticulous about the wrong details. Jude’s film is something of a miracle, a raucous and rude takedown that’s also touching and quite fair. Perhaps its closest arthouse companion, then, is Martin Scorsese’s “Bringing Out the Dead” (1999), an extended panic attack which plays out over the course of an impossible couple of days in the life of an EMT. Compared to Frank (Nic Cage), Angela’s an unflappable, steady hand. Bobita’s unhinged though, and in a sequel, Cage would nail that portrayal. Jude would make that happen.
“Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” is currently playing at the New York Film Festival. The festival goes from September 29th – October 15th. Join us for continual coverage.
