Spontaneousfilm's notebook

IRONIC DEBUTE FROM ROMANIAN MASTER

Cristian Mungiu: Zapping, Romania, 2000 with Hanno Höfer, Ion Fiscuteanu
Viewed on DVD with English subtitles, Sep ??, 2009. Running time: 15 MIN.

In a shabby apartment somewhere in Romania, a man obsessively zap between his TV channels despite the wife’s complaints and nagging. But where his wife fails, a little man inside the TV will appear and tell Sotul a thing or two about the true mechanics of television zapping.

This is the first movie produced by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, who should gain international attention seven years later with 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days. It’s an ironic take on apathetic TV watching which for pic’s protagonist Sotul has become somewhat of an obsessive habit. It gets funny when he comes across a channel with a man inside that lectures him on the work that lays behind each zapping. How it ends is for you to find out.