Two Lottery Tickets, a 2016 Romanian comedy directed by Paul Negoescu, is a diverting, enjoyable buddy caper about a trio of working-class guys who win the national lottery, lose the ticket when one them is mugged, and endure a string of adventures in an effort to collect their winnings. It’s a mostly lighthearted movie that sails along on the banter among the three friends, each of whom has an amusingly idiosyncratic personality.

Dinel (Dorian Boguță) is a fretful, sad-eyed mechanic whose wife is working in Italy for a shadowy boss. As we learn from a series of phone calls, she wants to come home, but her boss is demanding money to terminate her contract. Dinel’s own life is no picnic either, as we see him browbeaten at the garage by an irate customer who doesn’t like his car’s paint job. Sile (Dragoș Bucur) is a burly, big-talking gambler who is willing to bet on any sport, including the Tour de France. The trio is rounded out by Pompiliu (Alexandru Papadopol), a neatly groomed and tightly wound government functionary who is obsessed with conspiracy theories. Together they drink in a local bar and decide to purchase a lottery ticket with an eye on the big jackpot.

Their amazing luck in actually winning is dampened by the fact that Dinel’s fannypack containing the ticket was stolen by two thugs in his own building. After knocking on several doors and encountering various characters and situations, including a clairvoyant and a couple of prostitutes who provide clues, the three friends head to the big city (Bucharest) to hunt down the thieves and retrieve the ticket before the claim deadline. There is much good-natured bickering and some interesting insights into Romanian culture, including scenes with a young female hitchhiker that would never fly in the U.S.  There’s also a wistful soundtrack that complements the striking visuals of desolate-seeming small-town life, lending the film and the characters’ mission a bit of pathos.

Also opening this week is the starkly beautiful Two Gods, Zeshawn Ali’s debut feature documentary about a Muslim casket maker in Newark, and the two young men he mentors. Hanif takes great pride in his work making pine caskets and partaking in the ritual preparation of bodies for burial. After a rough past, some of it spent in prison, he has found life and meaning in religion and in providing one last service for the dead. Sadly, funerals and lives cut short are all too common in these parts of the city, where various groups — including one called Morticians that Care — come together in an attempt to curb the ongoing violence.  Ali’s sensitive, respectful direction allows us to see how Hanif and his fellow body washers go about their work. We also see how young neighborhood boys are taught the craft of casket making and body preparation.

Hanif takes it upon himself to befriend two young locals, the smart, outspoken Furquan and sensitive, despairing Naz, in hopes of setting them on a better path than he navigated as a young man. Shot in black and white, Two Gods presents complicated individuals, each striving and not always succeeding in keeping themselves out of trouble. Despite loving and deeply caring family members, the lure of the streets is often too much to resist. In Furquan’s case, moving to North Carolina to live with an aunt provides a way forward. The fact that his family is mostly white adds an interesting dimension to the film.

Although often melancholy, the film is filled with hope, complete with important birthday celebrations and a graduation. It’s clear-eyed about the bleak situation in Hanif’s neighborhood while showing the life force and unity among its residents. 

Two Lottery Tickets and Two Gods open in theaters and virtual cinemas on Friday, May 21.

—Marina Zogbi