Mo

Madalina Craiu and Dana Rogoz

Radu Dragomir's Mo, from 2019, is a compactly structured Me Too film with superb performances from the leads. Mo (Dana Rogoz) and Vera (Madalina Craiu) are two aimless university students who have each others' backs. They are shown traveling to Bucharest to take a business exam where they plan to cheat using their cellphones. They are busted and Mo's phone is confiscated by their professor (Razvan Vasilescu). The gals confront the professor while he is having a dinner date in order to retrieve the phone. They cast pervy aspersions on the Prof and his date departs in a huff. Only temporarily taken aback, the Professor invites the duo back to his apartment for dinner. There, while baiting the two about their cultural ignorance, he begins coming on to Mo. Despite the much older man's creepy countenance, Mo is intrigued by him and the two bond over a shared love of Joy Division. Their duet on She's Lost Control, given the song a layer of meaning that Ian Curtis probably did not intend.

The two withdraw to the bedroom, much to Vera's discomfort. At the last moment, Mo withdraws her consent and it is only through the intercession of Vera that she escapes being raped. All through the film, whether it is the widespread cheating in school or the Professor's disproportionate power over the future lives of his students, Dragomir pictures a Romania permeated with institutional corruption. Yet, none of his characters are wholly good or evil. The filmmaker's sympathy is wholly with his distaff duo. Yet, he is willing to show that they are immature brats. The Professor is a loathsome aging hipster who has no qualms about using his petty powers to further his own ends. He is also shown as a lonely man who fears he has frittered his life away to little effect. It is this ambivalence that gives Mo a subtle power that transcends its currency.

The film is currently streaming on Tubi under the awkward title of Indecency. It is a brisk 76 minutes. It's chief asset is Ms. Rogoz as Mo. The actress was 33 or so when Mo was filmed and in a few close-ups it shows. However, she nail from within the character's youthful confusion and awkwardness. Mo has the energy of the young, but does not know what to do with it.