Corneliu Porumboiu, 2009
plot synopsis: A police officer refuses to arrest a young man for offering drugs to his friends.
If the films of Kelly Reichardt (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy) and Ramin Bahrani (Chop Shop, Goodbye Solo) represent a recent resurgence of neo-realism, then the new film from Corneliu Porumboiu (12:08 East of Bucharest) drops the neo part and just goes for straight realism. I swear, at times this film felt like someone just started following an undercover police officer everyday to see what he did. Yes, the film can (at times) feel a bit like watching paint dry (though it’s not nearly as actionless as something like Jeannie Dielman), it does end up being an interesting study of whether a police officer should follow the law, unblinkingly, even when his conscience tells him he’s doing something wrong.
Damn, my heart dropped there for a second when I thought you might be criticizing Jeanne Dielman. I don’t think you were though. As for Police, Adjective, I loved it. I thought it was very funny and I think you’re right about a minor resurgence in neo-realism.
I wasn’t, it’s just hard as fuck to sit through at times.