Hello all! For my intro review assigned before the trip, I opted to see "Police, Adjective", a foreign film from Romania that was on at Cine earlier this month. Here you go:
Anna-lyze the Movies: “Police, Adjective” Review
By Anna Ferguson
Sometimes film critics get it right. They laud a production, praising its very essence and embracing its creators with warm, open arms. Because the movie is great, deserving the sung glory attributed to it.
This is not one of those times. This is one of those other times, when film critics pee in their pants for a new film, only that film is terrible.
Case in point: “Police, Adjective.”
Released in 2009 and winning several Cannes awards that same year, “Police, Adjective” is the latest attempt from Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu ("12:08 East Bucharest”), who co-wrote as well as directed the foreign film. Though the piece has been in the viewing market for a few months, it only recently made its way to Athens, thanks (or not) to indie art house theater Cine. Around town, word on the street was that the film was long awaited, ripe with sharp sarcasm and playing out as a soft gangland thriller. The theater thought so highly of the film, that it even staged a screening and adjoining discussion to engage fans.
Much discussion, certainly, was needed post-viewing, but not the type of talk that the theater may have hoped. This film spurred a long, lengthy debate between myself and fellow viewers, about why, exactly, we had wasted 113 minutes of time watching this film.
The story is that of the very likable Cristi (Dragos Bucur), a young detective investigating a trio of possible drug dealers/users in post-Communist Romanian, in a case that is less than pressing. In fact, the case could be considered- and by the cop higher ups, is- trivial. Just a few kids smoking dope near a school. Despite the lack of drama with the case, Cristi is determined to get to the bottom of it all, and make a name for himself within the rank of the police force.
It’s not the story line, per se, that drew in critical acclaim. It too was not the acting, though that was clearly on par, which created a golden glow around the flick. It was, instead, the pace of the film that had reviewers smiling.
Intended to be a twist in the tale, the movie moved at a snails speed, inching along with plenty of long, drawn out scenes completely void of any dialogue. Just the detective, hanging on a street corner for hours, waiting for the drug dealing kids to show their faces. Rather than flashing through these painstakingly dull moments of Cristi’s life, viewers are instead treated to accompanying him down the boring road. We watch, and watch, and watch, as Cristi paces on a corner, or sits on a bench. We watch and wait some more as he sits at his desk, as he waits for some lab results, then we watch more when he gets home from work, slowly eating supper.
About halfway through the film, one actual entertaining moment shows its head. Cristi has just gotten off the clock from yet another round of monotonous investigation, and goes home for dinner and to see his wife. Sitting at the kitchen table, eating his meal, his wife in the background plays and replays a silly pop tune. After fifteen minutes of watching him eat, and listening to this song, we follow as Cristi eventually makes his way to the living room to talk to his wife. They chat about the song, make a bit of fun about it, and then go to bed.
That simple scene was the most engaging section of the film. And it wasn’t even so funny.
The real problem with “Police, Adjective” is the timing. Or lack there of. The nearly two hours somehow ends up feeling like forever. Had Porumboiu opted to make the film a short feature, perhaps just 30 or 45 minutes long, the story would have been much more entertaining, and much less of a chore to sit through.
One could argue that “Police, Adjective” was an insight and comical look at the inner working of the post-Communist Romanian police force. One could argue that the movie was meant to be slow because that added to the intrigue and suspense. One could even argue that despite the film’s ridiculously sluggish stride could be overlooked thanks to Bucur’s congenial performance and the unwieldy humorous cop boss. One could make those arguments. But one would be defeated by the simple fact that myself and fellow moviegoers actually dozed off while trying to watch the film.
Porumboiu obviously attempted to present this film as a psychological thriller, as a movie made to engage while also keeping audiences aware of the awkward moments Cristi goes through in his everyday life of tedious police force. Here is a film that has the potential for being a cynically sarcastic look at the drudgery of detective work. It just was too long and empty in format to deliver anything but snores.
