Câinele japonez/The Japanese Dog, the long-feature debut of Romanian director Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, is Romania’s proposal to the Oscar Prizes in 2015, in the category “Best Foreign Language Film”, Mihai Kogalniceanu, general manager of the National Center for Cinematography, told local Mediafax.

The Japanese Dog is a sensitive film about family reconciliation. Veteran actor Victor Rebengiuc plays a taciturn farmer recovering from the death of his wife in a devastated flood. Having also lost his house, Costache spends his days trying to fix up his new home and generally avoiding his neighbors. The old man turns out to have a son who lives in Japan and whom he hasn’t told anything about his mother’s death.

The son finds out though and rushes to his home village, accompanied by his Japanese wife and their 7-year old son. What follows are a few days in which the lonely and grumpy Costache gets a bit closer to his son and finds happiness in his newly-found family, only to be overcome again by sadness when their day of departure arrives.

Romanian film review – Father and son: The Japanese Dog.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com