I can never get enough of 'creative' film title translations. The latest case which made me smile and scratch my head is La limita de jos a cerului, which was released internationally with the title The Unsaved, a somewhat cheesy translation of “At the Lower Limit of the Sky”, which is, I admit, a bumpy title itself but at least it doesn't sound like a 1970s horror movie.

Other than this amusing aspect though, this film is dead serious and bloody good. Igor Cobileanski has directed short films before this one and unlike some of the other long-feature debuts premiering these past months, this is an impressive one. It goes to his highest credit that a story as familiar as this is such a gripping experience. The recent streak of international success, starting with the FIPRESCI award at the Festival for East-European Cinema in Cottbus, Germany, is a testament to the film's many qualities.

The Unsaved is basically a classic coming-of-age story set in a criminal environment: Viorel, an aimless 19-year-old living in a desolated small town with his mother, is making some extra money by helping his dope-dealing friend Gâscă. That is until his crush on more experienced Maria makes him awake from his apathy and the new, 'honest' job as a helper at the police station, facilitated by his late father's former policeman colleague Vivi, seems to bring him on the right track.

Maria, however, is the lover of the feared (and never shown) Motanul, a local criminal doing time. To complicate matters even more, Viorel soon discovers a shocking connecting between Motanul and Vivi and it is from here on that the slow pace gathers speed and the events get nastier.

The Unsaved is a bleak movie, both in its matter and look but it's a touching and thrilling experience, marked by both humor and tragedy. Sure, the story has been told a million times before but thanks to a good script (no wonder, since it was originally written by wonderful Corneliu Porumboiu before his breakthrough film 12:08 East of Bucharest), pitch-perfect images by masterful director of photography Oleg Mutu, who worked on such milestones as 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, and great naturalist acting, the film packs a powerful punch.

Cobileanski's decision to set the plot in his native Moldova (the Republic of Moldova), a country seldom to be featured in cinema, is a further bonus: the unhurried, melancholic, quietly desperate and darkly funny atmosphere as well as the strong local dialect make the film look and sound raw and real.

Powerful and gorgeous to look at, there is no better film to watch on a wintry day. Make sure to check the film's screening schedule in your town at cinemagia.ro.

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