After bringing international acclaim to the Romanian New Wave with The Death of Mr Lăzărescu, Cristi Puiu returned with this stunning and enigmatic portrait of urban unease and masculinity in crisis. The director himself stars as Viorel, a discontented middle-aged man who can no longer bear the degradations of work and home life. Across an expansive but always tensely engaging runtime, we follow Viorel as he methodically plans out his shocking revenge on the world. Puiu’s treatment of social alienation and its violent consequences has never been more acute than in this impressively foreboding work.