Patrascu is in his 50s. The first hour of the film doesn’t even reveal his first name. He is simply a man everybody can depend upon. One morning, as he climbs the stairs home, Patrascu hears a violent conflict between a woman and a man from inside one of the apartments. The noise in the apartment suddenly stops, and out comes Vali, his secondfloor neighbour. Patrascu gives an automatic nod and wordlessly walks up the stairs to his apartment. While performing his household chores Patrascu is surprised to see neighbours and police swarming around the building entrance. Laura, the young woman from the second floor, was found dead, following a blow to the head.
The Romanian new wave has not lost momentum: Radu Muntean’s new film features a witness to a murder who finds himself wrestling with his conscience.
"The cinematographic language I have used in most of my films has been described as minimalist. And I do agree that I like to create filmic structures with minimal means, and make my story telling presence felt as little as possible. To my mind, viewers must be seduced, not manipulated; they must be brought to a point where they organically assimilate the story, assemble the information out of the puzzle provided in the film, with the feeling they are building the story structure themselves." (Radu Muntean)
Radu Muntean
Born in Bucharest in 1971. In 1994 he graduated from the Film and Theatre Academy in his hometown, where he made his first short films. He has also directed over 400 ads, which have won a great number of awards. His feature films, Furia, The Paper Will Be Blue, Boogie and After Christmas, screened at several prestigious international festivals. One Floor Below is Muntean's fifth feature.
filmography
2002 Furia
2006 Hîrtia va fi albastrã (The Paper Will Be Blue)
2008 Boogie
2010 Marti, dupa craciun (After Christmas)
2015 Un etaj mai jos (One Floor Below)