(Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania, 2009, 113 mins.)
Nothing happened for three hours.-- From Cristi's report on Victor
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Corneliu Porumboiu's Cannes Jury Prize-winning film, his superior follow-up to 12:08 East of Bucharest (SIFF '07), isn't a thriller, but it starts out like one as an unidentified man follows an unidentified teenager around an unidentified Romanian town. The title suggests that the former is a police officer and that the latter is a suspect, but the man could just as easily be a predator or a private eye. That ambiguity proves riveting.
There's no dialogue, no intertitles; just ambient sound as the men walk and smoke, walk and smoke. As it turns out, Cristi (Dragos Bucur) is an undercover cop with a soft heart and a stern demeanor. Victor likes to smoke hashish, and the police have found him out. To Cristi, the operation is a dead end. He's been tailing the kid for awhile and knows he isn't dealing. Nor has he been able to determine who's selling him the goods. THC may be illegal, but Cristi doesn't want to put Victor away for seven years.
Click here for part two
Police, Adjective plays the Varsity Theater through Thurs, Feb 4. The Varsity is located at 4329 University Way NE. For more information, please call 206-781-5755. Image from Artforum (still from a color film in 35mm).
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