Summer Holiday (Boogie)

A Romanian furniture manufacturer relives his carefree past while vacationing with his wife and son in director Radu Muntean's Summer Holiday (Boogie). Even when lounging on the beach, Bogdan (Dragos Bucur) can't put away his cell phone, but then he runs into a couple of high school friends, who remember him as “Boogie.” Although his pregnant wife, Smaranda (Anamaria Marinca), would prefer to spend time with her family, she and Bogdan get together with Penescu (Mimi Branescu) and Iordache (Adrian Vancica), who regale her with tales of Boogie's insensitive, impatient nature during the early 1990s. Smaranda keeps her thoughts to herself, but doesn't seem to like their dining companions much—or the man Bogdan becomes when he's with them. After Smaranda leaves with their 4-year-old son, Boogie drinks, exchanges insults, and flirts with an attractive local. After returning to Smaranda, Boogie defends his actions, but she says she feels neglected, which only inflames his frustration, so he rejoins his single pals, leading to a sad disco interlude and a sojourn in a hotel room, where a prostitute joins the trio. The more time he spends with Penescu and Iordache, the more Boogie starts to realize the emptiness of their lives: the poverty, the desperation, and the aimlessness (to say nothing of the casual misogyny). A caustic dark-night-of-the-soul journey into one troubled marriage, this is recommended. (K. Fennessy)