Milk Teeth

Set in Romania in 1989, at the tail-end of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s dictatorship, Milk Teeth begins with Maria (Emma Ioana Mogos) playing outside when she sees her older sister, Alina (Lara Maria Alexandra Comanescu), taking out the rubbish. When Alina doesn’t return later that day, and a frantic search turns up empty-handed, the young protagonist is forced to face the reality that her sister has disappeared while the world around her radically changes. Though light on plot, writer-director Mihai Mincan’s latest feature is an atmospherically rich coming-of-age story that functions as a poignant allegory of a specific time in history.

At its core, Milk Teeth is about trying to make sense of a confusing world. Everything that’s learned about the ongoing investigation comes from snippets of conversations overheard by Maria, meaning that viewers only ever know as much as she does. However, while viewers are able to read between the lines about what’s being said, Maria has to fill in these blanks herself as she attempts to understand what’s happening, not just with her sister, but her country. These moments come in the form of rumours whispered between classmates, small bonding moments with her parents, and (in this feature’s finest moments) flights of childlike imagination that range from the fantastical wonder to nightmares that verge on horror territory. Everything moves at a steady pace, which gives these sequences all the room they need to breathe. It’s through this methodical approach to his subject matter that Mincan succeeds in creating a textured tapestry of tones that colour Maria’s journey of self-discovery.

Alongside being a coming-of-age tale, Milk Teeth is also a thoughtful exploration of that pivotal point in Romania’s history. The confusion and fear that Maria has for her sibling can be seen as a reflection of the social anxieties that Mincan experienced growing up in Romania in the 1980s. These metaphors are subtly incorporated into the script, with only a handful of fleeting references to chaotic events occurring outside of the small town the film is set. Their inclusion nevertheless adds further layers of depth that transform a story about a missing girl into an exploration of an entire generation.

Loaded with atmosphere and allegory, Mincan crafts a superb coming-of-age story that eloquently tackles a generational zeitgeist of 1980s Romania.

Andrew Murray

Milk Teeth does not have a release date yet.

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