BY GLENN WHIPP >FILM CRITIC

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Christian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" originally was slated to open next year. But the critical acclaim for this Cannes Palme d' Or winner was deafening, and IFC decided to put the Romanian import in a couple of limited engagements now and let it rake in as many prizes as it could before reopening next February.

IFC's decision already has paid dividends. Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named "4 Months" the year's best foreign film and gave its supporting actor award to Vlad Ivanov, who gives "No Country for Old Men" star Javier Bardem a run for his money this year in embodying menacing evil.

All that is to say "4 Months" is worth your time, whether you choose to see it in the next seven days or wait until it returns in February.

Set in Bucharest in 1987 in the waning days of communist Eastern Europe, the movie is a spellbinding, expertly constructed look at a few harrowing hours in the lives of a woman trying to end her unwanted pregnancy and the friend laying everything on the line to help her.

The problems they face are many. Abortions are illegal in Romania, and the immature Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) has waited until her second trimester (the movie's title refers to the length of her pregnancy), reducing her options considerably.

Gabita's roommate Otilia (a brilliant Anamaria Marinca) jumps through hoops to find a hotel room, but bureaucratic red tape is nothing compared with what she must do to secure the services of a predatory abortionist (Ivanov) who works by the premise that "everything in this world has its price."

That credo is the heart of Mungiu's movie, which isn't about abortion but the straightjacket strictures of a society that puts governmental regulations above the needs of its citizens. Mungiu fixes his camera and, in one long take after another, coolly chronicles the gray bleakness of daily life in the Soviet bloc, where no one talks about politics and nearly everyone circumvents the law to get by.

The seething resentment this kind of life breeds is evident in Otilia, the character whose viewpoint dominates the movie. Given Gabita's passive-aggressive stupidity, it's easy to wonder why Otilia would tolerate her friend, much less make the sacrifices she does.

But Mungiu makes it clear. On two occasions, Otilia is told that her college tech major will keep her from "being sent to the country."

From the look on her face, Otilia doesn't buy it. Her unflinching fortitude throughout "4 Months" could be seen as either an act of rebellion against a soul-sapping system or the desperate, fatalistic actions of a woman convinced that life stinks. The movie lets you decide.

Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp@dailynews.com

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4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS

R: sexuality, language, disturbing images.
Starring: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov.
Director: Christian Mungiu.
Running time: 1 hr. 53 min.
Playing: One-week Academy qualifying run at Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood. Returns Feb. 1.
In a nutshell: Harrowing journey of two women made desperate by a government that puts bureaucracy ahead of the interests of its people.

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