Review of Police, Adjective (2010) by Brian E — 21 Apr 2010

Perhaps I'm one of the few (if not the only one) who isn't the slightest bit marveled by this new wave of Romanian indie films to circulate the festival circuits and IFC Channel within the past couple years.

My review for Cristian Mungiu's '4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days' may have been the only review I've seen which did not mouth-fuck its step-by-agonizing-step realism - climbing a large mountain, just to discover you have already climbed this mountain.

.. and now you're fucking angry because you cannot ride a helicopter back down and you apparently have a shitty memory. It was realism about the Communist effect on abortion treatment and the blackmarket, and the decisions faced in fear - this was very interesting, very compelling.

Its execution, though more than perfect in execution, dark atmosphere, harrowing performances, and unpredictability, left me feeling empty. I enjoyed what I saw as an exercise in realism, but had little emotional magnetism to the situation and outcome.

If I want realism, I want to feel pathetic. I don't want just over an hour of a day in the life. Altogether, I remind you, I did like '4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days' (a 6/10 worth, which is above average!), but I did not praise this as something new and refreshing.

Besides, I think the Dardenne Brothers achieve the walk in realism with finer moments. Now, back to the REAL film we're discussing - Corneliu Porumboiu's Romanian continuing study in realism 'Police, Adjective'.

I cannot say I even liked, nor enjoyed this, despite its tightly-tethered realism, impressive long takes, and astonishing moments in scripted dialogue towards the film's finale. The story closely follows an undercover cop assigned to bust a teen for marijuana possession and dealing, but faces the inner guilt of potentially putting away this kid just for a petty crime, and further ruining his life, especially in this day and age when marijuana possession and distribution is becoming increasingly legal, and less a greater deal.

The film's theme of how offensive is the face value of a particular law may stand with the progress of time, and how much is it worth in pursuit is undeniably clever. Its approach lies in a series of 5+ minute still-shots following our protagonist undercover at work, then longer shots of dialogue exchange with his captain, who assigns him the work he almost refuses to do.

The film curiously follows each incident report word-for-word, to fill the audience in on what you just witnessed - I'm still deciding if this was a nice touch. We our invited into this cop's world without the invitation into his mind, which for me is only well-devised through the harrowing direction of Michael Haneke, who keeps characters at arms' length for the curiousness of intrigue.

There's nothing intriguing about 'Police, Adjective', and the feeling I received after watching '4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days' was somehow multiplied by ten. There's also minimal pay-off with such exhausting build-up.

The film's highlights were maybe only half-lights - as impressive as the long takes were, the novelty wears quickly; as impressive as some of the scripted moments served, the clever "dictionary" moments at the end were not comparable to a climax; as well-rounded the characters performed, the acting was simply effortless.

'Police, Adjective' may be an interesting study with intelligent ideas demolished by monotony and simple insignificance - the kind of insignificance which distracted attention rather than provide a platform for realism.