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Bucharest 1959. A spectacular Bank heist has the country in an uproar. In post-war Communist Romania it is an unimaginable slap in the face to the iron fisted authorities. Four men and a woman are arrested, tried, convicted and while waiting for their execution... are forced to star in a propaganda film about the crime. All five protagonists were heroes of the resistance during the Second World War and highly placed members of Romanian society. They clearly knew they would be caught and executed.
All the major facts of Moon are historically accurate, but the reasons behind the events remain a bit murky. However, Caranfil's speculations are more than persuasive.
There are a lot of moving moments in this film, and it's to writer-director Nae Caranfil's credit that he's able to tease out the logic in this mostly enjoyable, if a little all-over-the-place, dark comedy.
It has some moments that effectively convey the weirdness with which it deals; but for the most part it's a missed opportunity, marred by a lack of narrative conviction and tonal cohesion.
Although based on a true story, 'Closer to the Moon' comes across on screen as artificial and befuddling. However, quality production values make it easy on the eyes.
It's always a pleasure to see Mark Strong in a lead role -- too often he's wasted as baddies and bosses. In Closer to the Moon he gets his most interesting part in a while.
"Closer to the Moon" draws on many of the same facts that appear in "The Great Communist Bank Robbery," but in the service of a less adventurous movie with familiar Western actors, English-language dialogue and badly strained uplift.