Police, Adjective reviews
Review by on 25 Sep 2010
Slow moving but thought provoking throughout. A film that reminds of us the everyday dilemmas and choices we all have to make and the consequences.
Review by on 20 Sep 2010
The film's anguished heart is a setpiece voicing the anxiety of a young, newly-married cop, Cristi (Dragos Bucur), about the effects of jail on a minor suspected of dealing hash in the provincial town of Vaslui. “The law will change in Romania as in much of the rest of Europe” - but he is reminded that he is bound to apply the law as it is, not as he prefers it.
Yet, like THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD and others in the impressive Romanian New Wave, this is no dry film of issues. It's a film about foot-tennis, playing pop-songs too loudly in your living room, bad spelling, echoes of the life/death conflicts in Ceausescu's time, sordid concrete blocks, watchfulness and waiting in a secretary's office almost too long for the boss to call you in. A new marriage (“something isn't working”) resonates with the hardships of new Romania. Can stings be justified and, if so, in which circumstances? How far can we trust dictionary definitions? A truly shocking ending will reverberate in your memory, as you wonder how such a quiet, slow film could be so edgy and so engrossing. You're not alone in admiration: this movie won the 'Un Certain Regard' Jury Prize at Cannes in 2009.
Philip Ward - (Audience review handed in)
Yet, like THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD and others in the impressive Romanian New Wave, this is no dry film of issues. It's a film about foot-tennis, playing pop-songs too loudly in your living room, bad spelling, echoes of the life/death conflicts in Ceausescu's time, sordid concrete blocks, watchfulness and waiting in a secretary's office almost too long for the boss to call you in. A new marriage (“something isn't working”) resonates with the hardships of new Romania. Can stings be justified and, if so, in which circumstances? How far can we trust dictionary definitions? A truly shocking ending will reverberate in your memory, as you wonder how such a quiet, slow film could be so edgy and so engrossing. You're not alone in admiration: this movie won the 'Un Certain Regard' Jury Prize at Cannes in 2009.
Philip Ward - (Audience review handed in)
Review by on 19 Sep 2010
No. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary disagrees. Police is either a noun or a verb.
This slow film is full of subtle comedy. The Romanian director Puiu THE DEATH OF MR LAZARESCU tells a story involving policemen clamping down on marijuana in Brasov or the “City of Gold” as one of them has it. There is not a running gag, but it’s a walking gag whenever the hero trails his teenage quarry. The policeman hero does not smoke dope - he smokes cigarettes and drinks soup. There is a difference. Lines blur. Some of the dope-smokers’ lethargy consumes our hero. Will justice prevail?
MR LAZARESCU was a beautiful essay about love of your fellow man (love without an article). This one is an assignment about love of administration and order. You could say this film is boring, but it is a slow, procedural film. Even I then, in the privacy of my home, might cede there is a level of banality the toothpaste joke can’t redress. It’s a bit like ‘don’t smile for passport photos’ for the DVLA. I laughed at the overt strictness, complied and now have four grim-faced photos.
For me the best scene was where he’s listening to a song that his wife is playing. He nit-picks that the lyrics are clichés. His wife says this is a rhetorical device (anaphora). The film has a moral purpose. Conscience, law, moral judgement are universally important. This film forces you to take time thinking about them.
Benedict Womack
This slow film is full of subtle comedy. The Romanian director Puiu THE DEATH OF MR LAZARESCU tells a story involving policemen clamping down on marijuana in Brasov or the “City of Gold” as one of them has it. There is not a running gag, but it’s a walking gag whenever the hero trails his teenage quarry. The policeman hero does not smoke dope - he smokes cigarettes and drinks soup. There is a difference. Lines blur. Some of the dope-smokers’ lethargy consumes our hero. Will justice prevail?
MR LAZARESCU was a beautiful essay about love of your fellow man (love without an article). This one is an assignment about love of administration and order. You could say this film is boring, but it is a slow, procedural film. Even I then, in the privacy of my home, might cede there is a level of banality the toothpaste joke can’t redress. It’s a bit like ‘don’t smile for passport photos’ for the DVLA. I laughed at the overt strictness, complied and now have four grim-faced photos.
For me the best scene was where he’s listening to a song that his wife is playing. He nit-picks that the lyrics are clichés. His wife says this is a rhetorical device (anaphora). The film has a moral purpose. Conscience, law, moral judgement are universally important. This film forces you to take time thinking about them.
Benedict Womack
Review by on 18 Sep 2010
This takes dead-pan & slow-burning to new levels! Not sure what to make of it but was hooked by dictionary (penultimate) scene
