Film

12:08 East of Bucharest (2006)

Director: Corneliu Porumboiu

Movie review

From Time Out New York

For many people, December 22 is when you finish your Christmas shopping. For Romanians, it’s the day that the dictatorial reign of Communist president Nicolae Ceausescu finally ended in 1989. To mark the occasion’s anniversary, a local TV personality (Corban) decides to interview two citizens—an alcoholic teacher (Sapdaru) and a grumpy old man (Andreescu)—who witnessed the downfall firsthand. Once the broadcast begins, however, callers dispute the participants’ stories; no one can agree on when people started protesting in the town square, who actually showed up or if the “heroic” professor even made it out of the neighborhood pub.

Corneliu Porumboiu’s debut feature has been cited, along with 2005’s The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, as making Romania the latest world-cinema hot spot. (This year’s Palme d’Or winner also hails from the country; let the New Wave declarations officially begin!) Whether it’s part of a movement or just a singular lark, Porumboiu’s satire about history and short memories is a modest, deadpan masterpiece. Long takes and slow pacing initially suggest social realism, Eastern European–style. Then comes the film’s real-time pièce de résistance—a call-in program shot by the world’s most incompetent television cameraman—and the gradual accumulation of slight comic gestures suddenly yields huge returns.

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