Review of Police, Adjective (2010) by Eric F — 01 Dec 2009

In the latter half of this decade, no country has been producing more exciting films than Romania. Dubbed the Romanian New Wave, these films are united by a similar minimalist method of storytelling. Alongside the hyper-realism is quick-witted black comedy and a criticism of Romania's post-communist stasis - they're existential pictures that relinquish a world of frustration.

Cristian Mungiu, whose "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days" won the Palme D'or in 2007, is perhaps the flag-bearer of the movement. With "Police, Adjective", however, "12:08 East of Bucharest"'s Corneliu Porumboiu has proven that he's not only one of the premiere directors working in Romania, but in the world today.

Cristi (Dragos Bucur) is an undercover cop working in the northern city of Vasliu. He's been on the tail of Victor (Radu Costin), a teenager who has been smoking (and potentially selling) pot behind school. Cristi's police captain, Anghelache (Vlad Ivanov, the abortionist from "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days"), demands that he go through with the arrest, but Cristi's conscious will not let him ruin the life of such a young man.

Much of the film is shot in long, unbroken passages completely void of dialogue. There's a revealing moment near the end in which Cristi sits and waits to speak with his captain. As we join him in the waiting room for an uncomfortable amount of time, we begin to notice how busy the secretary is at work. It's a peculiar police procedural, indeed, as unglamorous as any of it's kind - a film that suggests that being a cop is, well, a whole lot of waiting. Secretarial positions, on the other hand - now there's a world of excitement!

As is typical with these modern Romanian efforts, the film is critical of Romania's current state of affairs. Cristi's failure to make any progress is echoed by Romania's own post-communist climate.

"Police, Adjective" demands a patient viewer, and as simple as it may seem to be, there's more than enough to chew on to warrant such stagnation. The film's final scene, a lengthly discussion of semantics between Cristi and his captain, is as involving and well-written as anything i've seen this year.