She’s briefly allowed out of jail. She has been given 24 hours’ leave to attend the funeral of her mother. But Matilda, hard and unapproachable, is not planning to serve the rest of her sentence. She wants to flee Romania. Before that time comes, Matilda has some business to attend to. She visits her brother and the ex-boyfriend/pimp who still owes her some money. In the end she has to go looking for the most important man in her life: a precocious, traumatised boy, aged eight. The scenario of Outbound is based on a story by Cristian Mungiu and Ioana Uricaru, two Romanian filmmakers who have had the requisite success. The director, Bogdan George Apetri, also seems destined for a magnificent career. His feature debut is secure and harrowing, with a beautiful leading role by Ana Ularu. There doesn’t seem to be any end to the flood of film talent emerging from Romania; the punchy Outbound proves the Romanian New Wave is alive and kicking.
