The Goat and Her Three Kids (original Romanian title: Capra cu trei iezi) is directed by Victor Canache and the cast includes Maia Morgenstern and Marius Bodochi.
TL;DR: The Goat and Her Three Kids (Original title: Capra cu trei iezi) is a slow, carefully made film that leans hard on mood and acting. It looks strong and committed, but the writing and pacing don’t always hold up, but worth it if you’re okay with something patient and a bit uneven.
Plot
Secluded from the world, a single mother of three must defend what's left of her family from a cold-blooded killer, at all costs.
An Incredibly Patient Film with Decent Visuals
This film moves like it’s in no hurry at all, as it purposely just takes its time with everything, even moments that don’t really need that much time, without too much of a shift in pace, which means you really end up noticing when something isn’t actually doing much, which happens quite a bit.
The way this film looks is probably its strongest argument for itself, because it heavily relies on the locations and natural light, and it doesn’t try to smooth anything over, which helps to give everything a rough edge that works most of the time.
There are also moments where the framing feels really deliberate, like someone actually thought about where your eye should go instead of just capturing action, but then you get the occasional shaky stuff that doesn’t quite match the rest of the visual style.
It certainly never looks careless though, and it all feels more like it’s sticking to a very specific idea and refusing to compromise on it, which is confident choice, even if not everything works as confidently as hoped.
Read some more horror movie reviews:
Acting That Carries More Than It Should
A lot of the film’s interesting parts ends up resting on Maia Morgenstern, and her performance is steady and tightly controlled, never tipping into overt melodrama, which helps when the writing starts to stretch thin, as she keeps things internal in a way that fits the material, and it often feels like she’s doing more with less rather than being given much to work with on the page.
Marius Bodochi, is also really good, with a cold, almost ritualistic quality to the performance that suits the character’s presence, but the downside is that it doesn’t really evolve much, so what starts as effectively intimidating gradually becomes quite repetitive.
The younger supporting cast also add something, even if the film doesn’t always give them enough room to develop distinct arcs, but it’s the contrast between Morgenstern’s restraint and Bodochi’s more fixed intensity that defines much of the film’s dramatic energy and carries it as a whole.
A Pace That Stretches a Short Runtime Into Something Longer
Even though this isn’t a long film, it still manages to feel longer than it should, where scenes sit in place without much movement, and sometimes it feels like the film is waiting for something to happen that never really arrives - nothing is confusing or poorly put together, everything is clearly arranged and intentional, but the issue is that intention doesn’t always turn into momentum.
It’s controlled, but that control sometimes works against it.
Direction and Writing
There’s a clear vision behind this film, which is easy to see, where the direction is consistent and confident, and it sticks to its approach without wavering, so you can tell it knows exactly what kind of film it wants to be, which is a big plus.
The writing though doesn’t match that same level of strength, as it’s very stripped down, maybe too stripped down, and there are moments where it feels like there should be more underneath the surface than what’s actually there.
But again, it's confident, but that confidence doesn't translate as well as intended to the screen, but I will also add that because it's a Romanian film based on a classic Romanian tale, that maybe some of it was also a bit lost on me?
Final Thoughts
The Goat and Her Three Kids is worth watching if you’re fine with something patient that relies more on mood than storytelling drive, as it has its moments.