If you can't go to Cannes, Cannes will come to you. In order to celebrate the 67^th edition of the prestigious film festival (taking place between May 14 and 25), the always-reliable Noul Cinematograf al Regizorului Român (3 Monetăriei Street, at the back entrance to the Museum of the Romanian Peasant/Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român) screens nine features presented and/or awarded at the festival in 2013. So don't be sad if you can't join the rest of the film world on the French riviera; there are some very fine titles to see in Bucharest.

The screenings started on Friday, May 16, and will end on Wednesday evening (May 21). Some of the titles have been running in Romanian cinemas already but there are also some gems here you could not catch otherwise, so make sure to check out the programme.

One of the most 'outrageous' ones is the stylish, ultra-bloody and messy Only God Forgives, and it's perfectly alright if you've missed this one but it would also be a bit of a shame. It's by no means as good as director Nicolas Winding Refn's and actor Ryan Gosling's previous common film, Drive, but it is sheer madness. I wouldn't know where to start but I can assure you this one won't leave you cold.

The epic, daring and beautifully made La vie d'Adèle/Blue Is the Warmest Color made some of the most jaw-dropping headlines last year, both because it is very explicit in its depiction of lesbian sexuality and because the actresses and director offended each other in public. But the film speaks for itself: it's a patient, intelligent love story and while I find it less brilliant than heralded in the press, it is definitely one to watch.

Jeune & jolie/Young & Beautiful is another French film with a 'scandalous' theme and like all of  François Ozon's films, it often leaves the audience guessing, especially in this one, where there are no easy answers to why a teenager from a well-off Parisian family chooses to be a prostitute.

Soshite chichi ni naru/Like Father, Like Son is a lovely and tender tale of a father who finds out his son is actually not his after the children had been switched at birth at the hospital. On the opposite emotional spectrum, Heli is a disturbing and shockingly violent story set in a drug cartel-owned Mexican city. This is strictly for the ones with the strongest nerves though; you don't often get to see a penis set on fire...

Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy is one of the most ambitious and impressive projects of the past years, a ruthless and excellent take on three of the most existential aspects in life: hope, love, and faith. The series will screen two of the films, Paradis: Hoffnung/Paradise: Hope and Paradies: Liebe/Paradise: Love, and they are both highly recommended.

Borgman is a a deliciously wicked and fun domestic thriller about an outsider entering a respectable family's home. You can imagine things will not go well from here, it's definitely not the first time you've heard the story, but be prepared for some serious surprises.

But my favourite is the Coen brother's Inside Llewyn Davis, a warm, witty, and elegiac story of a folk singer looking for luck and some love in 1960s New York City. The beautiful trailer below offers an excellent glimpse into a touching, visually gorgeous film.

By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com