12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST - DVD review

I haven't really gotten a taste of Romanian cinema before, but the country has recently given me plenty to feast on. There was the darkly comical The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, a scathing look at the Romanian health care system, and the recent abortion drama, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days. In between those two great films is the satire, "12:08 East of Bucharest," which made fellow staff member Christopher Long's Top 10 List for 2007. The three films have formed a triumvirate of what some critics have been calling a Romanian New Wave. Each film has had a strong presence at the Cannes Film Festival with "Bucharest" winning the Camera D'Or prize in 2006 and "4 Months" winning the Palme D'or last year.

In late December of 1989, the Romanian people rose up against dictator, Nicolae Ceasusescu, one of the last Communist leaders still clinging to the crumbling iron curtain. The riots began in Bucharest when Ceasusescu was giving a televised speech to quell growing unrest following a student revolt in the city of Timisoara. Revolution spread like wildfire as Ceasusescu fled the city via helicopter. Writer/Director Corneliu Porumboiu makes his feature-length debut with a film about a talk show attempting to mark the sixteenth anniversary of those events. Porumboiu was inspired to make "12:08" after watching a similar show in his hometown of Vaslui. The fictional show of the film is called "Issue of the Day" and is hosted by Virgil Jderescu (Teodor Corban), who asks the hard hitting question of whether or not a revolution took place in their town. The film's original Romanian title is in fact, "A fost sau n-a fost?", which roughly translates to "Was There or Wasn't There?"

Jderescu's two guests are Tiberiu Manescu (Ion Sapdaru), a history professor and professional drunkard, and Emanoil Piscoci (Mircea Andreescu), affectionately dubbed "Old Man Piscoci" because of his penchant for dressing up as Santa for the kids during Christmas. The first half of the film follows each of the characters as they go about their daily routines while gearing up for the big broadcast. Jderescu has a case of the jitters, his wife nags him about his daughter who needs money for a ski trip, and he has a mistress on the side in the form of one the reporters working for his network. We meet Manescu as he wakes up on his living room couch after tying one on the night before. From there, Manescu goes to work, presiding over a group of flunking students, retaking an exam. Evidently, indifference to education is an international language. Neither the students nor Manescu care that much about the testing. Manescu doesn't bother with any inspirational "Dead Poets Society" speeches, he just laments, "You can't even cheat properly." When a fellow teacher walks in, it isn't so he can chastise Manescu's lackadaisical teaching methods, it's so he can get back the money he borrowed. Manescu engages in a never ending cycle of debt, borrowing to pay back those he already borrowed from. Piscoci is a last-minute substitute for another guest who decided to cancel. Piscoci spends his morning getting ready to play Santa. He complains about how crappy his first suit is and deals with obnoxious neighborhood kids lighting up fireworks outside his apartment.

All three men finally converge at the half way point where Jderescu drives them to the studio. He asks Manescu and Piscoci if there was a revolution in town or did the people only rise up after everybody else had. Manescu claims he and three other colleagues (who are all conveniently dead or no longer in the country) arrived at the town square to protest and hurl rocks at city hall. Jderescu seems pretty proud of this revelation, but the air is slowly let out of his balloon when viewers begin calling in to dispute Manescu's claims. Meanwhile, Piscoci adds nothing to the proceedings, spending more attention on making paper boats.

Like his fellow directors, Cristi Puiu Cristian Mungiu, Porumboiu uses the camera as an unobtrusive tool to allow us to observe as the events slowly unfold. No fancy tracking shots, pans, or cute editing tricks. The camera just lingers on its subjects through a series of static, long takes. This is evident in the first half of the film as we watch the characters go about a series of mundane tasks. These events go on far too long for my tastes and the second half of the film is where "12:08" gets really interesting. It's at this point that the three characters verbally jab with each other and their callers from behind a desk. Porumboiu shoots this section as if it was an actual talk show, albeit a talk show on a low-budget, cable access channel. The framing is sometimes odd and the camera awkwardly zooms in and out. The hand of a production assistant pops up from time to time to snatch Old Man Pisoci's boats or to stop Manescu's nervous fidgeting.

The humor is likely not going to be to everyone's tastes. The pace isn't at the level of a manic, screwball comedy; there are no sight gags or slapstick. The humor is very dry and deadpan. Admittedly, there were times where I wasn't sure if something was supposed to be funny or not.

VIDEO:
The video is presented in anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.66:1. The transfer is quite clean, but the film isn't a polished, big-budget production. The colors tend to run a little flat while some grain appears during the darker scenes.

AUDIO:
The audio is presented on three tracks: Dolby Digital 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1, and DTS 5.1. All three are in the film's original Romanian.

EXTRAS:
Porumboiu provides the DVD with an audio commentary track in English. Porumboiu talks about the production, his hometown, and the inspiration for the story. He also discusses some of the films he watches such as Jim Jarmusch and Bruce Lee. However, there are many long gaps where Porumboiu remains silent.

The only other extras included are the film's original theatrical trailer as well as trailers for other Tartan releases.

FILM VALUE:
"12:08 East of Bucharest" won't be everybody's cup of tea. Some might rail against the film for being everything that's bad about arthouse cinema. Others might view it as a sharp and intelligent satire. While the opening half of the film borders on tedium, the concluding scenes lend some clever insights into the subjects of history, politics, and journalism. You do have to wonder about the history we glean from textbooks and cable television. Is this the type of information that should be taken as gospel? Or is it all just unsubstantiated gossip? Unreliable memories viewed through the hazy eyes of its drunken participants? Food for thought.