The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Cannes Film Festival 2022

Metronom

Cannes Film Festival 2022: Metronom | Review
25 May 2022
Andrew Murray
Avatar
Andrew Murray
25 May 2022

Movie and show review

Andrew Murray

Metronom

★★★★★

Special event

Cannes Film Festival 2022

16th to 28th May 2022

Set in 1972 Bucharest, writer-director Alexandru Belc’s elegant feature debut Metronom centres around rebellious 17-year-old Ana (newcomer Mara Bugaran), who’s devastated by the news that her boyfriend Sorin (Serban Lazarovici) is leaving for Germany to escape from the authoritative communist government that holds their Romania in an iron grip. The lovers and their group of friends dream of freedom as they listen avidly to records by Jimi Hendrix and The Doors. Their passion burns so brightly that at a party they decide to write a letter to their favourite (and banned) radio station – the titular Metronom – to express their appreciation for what they do. 

However, their party comes to an end when the secret police somehow discover the letter and accuse the children of betraying their country. Ana refuses to cooperate, her future subsequently hanging in the balance.

From the opening scene, in which Ana and Sorin walk arm in arm across a concrete square (lens flare from the dwindling sun acting as an ethereal spotlight for their journey), Metronom is a sublimely good-looking film. Each sequence is shot with care and purpose that subsequently creates an intimacy for viewers to latch onto Ana’s plight. The party scenes where the camera lingers on the teenager dancing in brightly coloured clothes to psychedelic 70s rock epitomises the film’s tone. For these brief moments the kids are free from the oppressive laws that control the rest of their lives. The filmmaker uses a similar approach when it comes to the central romance; likewise, the camera lingers on the intimate moments the pair share, as if there was nothing else in the world. While one extensively prolonged sex scene verges on the point of being uncomfortable, it’s meaning isn’t lost on viewers.

Any actual drama doesn’t come into play until the secret police kick down the door, whereupon it plays out with similar slow-burn pacing. The threat of serious jail time is the catalyst for conflict, yet Metronom is never really about Ana’s fight against authority. Belc’s film is about young love’s struggle to flourish in an oppressive environment. It’s a meditative reflection on the necessity of youth and expression. And though the momentum occasionally comes to a complete standstill, Metronom remains an exquisite piece of cinema and a provocative spin on a coming-of-age romance.

★★★★★

Andrew Murray

Metronom does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival 2022 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.

Watch a clip from Metronom here:

Related Itemscannes film festivalfilm festivalreview

More in Cannes

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.

★★★★★
Matthew McMillan
Read More

“I think I’m kind of a drug addict for image and sound coming together! I’m always putting images to sound and getting high”: An interview with Hlynur Pálmason, director of Godland

Selina Sondermann
Read More

Leyla’s Brothers: An interview with Saeed Roustayi

Selina Sondermann
Read More

Plan 75: An interview with director Chie Hayakawa

Selina Sondermann
Read More

Falcon Lake: An interview with director Charlotte Le Bon

Selina Sondermann
Read More

“How to make a genuine portrait of life”: An interview with the stars of Leila’s Brothers

Selina Sondermann
Read More

“It’s never as I planned it to be, but that’s the point. I like that”: An interview with Marie Kreutzer, director of Corsage

Selina Sondermann
Read More

Smoking Causes Coughing (Fumer Fait Tousser)

★★★★★
Selina Sondermann
Read More

The Woodcutter Story (Metsurin Tarina)

★★★★★
Selina Sondermann
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Andrew Murray

Metronom

★★★★★

Special event

Cannes Film Festival 2022

16th to 28th May 2022

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Ed Sheeran at Wembley Stadium
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Eagles bring a nostalgia-laden evening to the BST Festival in Hyde Park
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Africa Fashion at the V&A
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • “He used to spit at the audience, roll on the ground, he did, in fact, hump that plastic dog – he was the original punk rocker”: Baz Luhrman, Tom Hanks, Austin Butler, Olivia DeJonge and Alton Mason on Elvis
    Cinema & Tv
  • The Princess
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Terminal List
    ★★★★★
    amazon
  • Baymax!
    ★★★★★
    disney
  • St Vincent at the Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Parisian bar Little Red Door to take over Adam Handling’s Eve Bar on 7 July
    Food & Drinks
  • Netflix Walking Tour: From Bridgerton to The Crown, a free walking tour through the filming locations
    Cinema & Tv
  • St Vincent at the Hammersmith Apollo
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Netflix Walking Tour: From Bridgerton to The Crown, a free walking tour through the filming locations
    Cinema & Tv
  • Africa Fashion at the V&A
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • Minions: The Rise of Gru
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Rollings Stones give Glasto a run for its money at BST Festival in Hyde Park
    ★★★★★
    Live music
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Cannes Film Festival 2022: Tori and Lokita | Review
Cannes Film Festival 2022: Domingo and the Mist (Domingo y la Niebla) | Review