Before emerging as one of the leading lights of the Romanian New Wave with 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu made his feature-film debut with Occident, a playful jigsaw puzzle that quickly established the director as a master of innovative cinematic storytelling. Over the course of three vignettes, Mungiu depicts the lives of several struggling Romanians: Luci (Alexandru Papadopol) and Sorina (Anca Androne), who separate over financial issues; Luci’s new romantic interest Mihaela (Tania Popa) and her mother (Coca Bloos), who spar over the young woman’s inability to land a husband; and Mihaela’s police-officer father (Dorel Vișan) and a mysterious German (Valeriu Andriuta), who discover the fate of Luci’s long-lost cousin. By looping back in time with each narrative to interweave the dangling narrative threads, Occident reflects on how various chances can reverse or reinforce the decisions of people already set to radically change their circumstances. In the process, Mungiu colors his bittersweet ensemble tale of a new generation of Romanians looking far beyond home for greater opportunities at the dawn of the twenty-first century.