Martin Scorsese Praises Radu Jude's ‘Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World'

Slow post-Super Bowl day for news and intel. With that said, I should probably write about Martin Scorsese’s expressed admiration for Romanian cinema.

During an interview, conducted last week, with TCM’s Dave Karger, Scorsese mentioned films by directors Radu Jude, Cristian Mungiu, Cristi Puiu, and Corneliu Porumboiu as recent cinema that he finds brilliant: "I really like Romanian films." 

Scorsese namechecked “Police, Adjective” and “Sieranevada” as recent favorites of his. However, it seems like the filmmaker is particularly high on Jude's films.

There's this guy named Radu Jude… He’s something else. Especially “Aferim!,” which he shot in black and white, and another one that I’m sure isn’t to everyone’s taste, “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World.” That one is shocking—it takes political content, cinema, morality, immorality, throws it all on screen, then shatters it into a thousand pieces, and suddenly, you see the world differently.

Jude’s films, Scorsese mentioned, are “fresh and engaging.” He went on to quote what the director has to ay about the future of cinema: “I think he once said, 'Maybe cinema hasn’t even begun yet.' And he’s right… he’s right."  

Jude shared the interview on his Facebook page, noting that it is a “great honor” to be mentioned by the master.

Jude has emerged as one of the more interesting international filmmakers in recent years. He won the coveted Golden Bear in 2021 for “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”; The win came six years after Jude earned the Silver Bear for the historical drama, “Aferim!”

No slouch in terms of controversy over the years, ‘Bad Luck,’ shot and set during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed what happens after secondary-school teacher Emi has a sex video uploaded online, and the “cancel culture” backlash that ensues at her work because of it.

Riding high off his acclaimed “Don’t Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” Jude has TWO new films in 2025: “Dracula” and “Kontinental ‘25” — the latter will have its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival a few weeks from now.