HOOKED

Directed By Adrian Sitaru

Review By Kim Jindra

HOOKED is the story of a young Romanian woman, Mihaela, who escapes the daily drudgery of job and husband, for an idyllic afternoon drive in the countryside with her middle-aged lover Mihai.  But things don't go as planned.  The couple starts bickering from the moment they meet.  The entire road trip is just one argument after another.  The tension really flares when Mihaela accidentally strikes a prostitute with her car. 

Mihaela, scared, wants to run but Mihai insists they take the body to the hospital. They finally agree to dispose of the body in the woods but their plans go awry when they discover the woman, Ana, is stunned, but not dead.  She has no memory of the accident.  They reluctantly agree to take Ana with them on their picnic.

Their afternoon goes from bad to worse as Ana attempts to discover their secrets.

Director Adrian Sitaru tries to crank up the conflict by having Ana play her hosts against each other.   Ana was definitely the most interesting thing about the movie.  I wondered about her motivation.  But I didn't think of any of the characters were that compelling.  I didn't buy the relationship between Mihai and Mihaela.  They were simply not compatible.  And I especially didn't believe the film's resolution but I was relieved when they drove off into the sunset.  The 84 minute running time put the people around me to sleep.

I did appreciate the camera work.  And Maria Dinulescu as Ana was convincing and edgy.