Police, adjective-Politicist, adj. (2009)

Directed by: Corneliu Porumboiu | 115 minutes | drama, comedy, crime | Actors: Dragos Bucur, Vlad Ivanov, Irina Saulescu, Ion Stoica, Marian Ghenea, Cosmin Selesi, George Remes, Dan Cogalniceanu, Serban Georgevici, Costi Dita, Alexandru Sabadac, Anca Diaconu, Radu Costin, Viorel Nebunu, Emanoela Tigla, Daniel Bîrsan, Mioara Bungeanu, Adina Dulcuz

According to movie database IMDB, the Romanian movie ‘Police, Adjective’ is a mixture of drama, crime and comedy. It will then come as no surprise that this unusual combination results in an unusual film. ‘Police, Adjective’ consists for the most part of documentary-style scenes, which show us the boring day-to-day work of Officer Cristi. These pieces are interrupted by bizarre altercations between the police officers themselves or between Cristi and his wife.

The long slow pieces make ‘Police, Adjective’ a tough one. The fact that nothing appears to happen in a film doesn’t say much. In films like ‘La Ventana’ (2008), ‘Can through skin’ (2009) and ‘Parque Via’ (2008) the action is minimal, but a lot is happening beneath the surface. In addition, the exciting cinematography keeps the viewer on their toes. ‘Police, Adjective’ isn’t very special cinematographically, while it remains silent beneath the surface. All we learn from Cristi is that he is a dutiful man who likes to smoke a cigarette. The smoking youngsters he observes remain completely blurred.

Fortunately, there are still confrontations between Cristi and his environment. The bizarre dialogues seem to have come straight out of an absurdist play by Pinter or Beckett. For example, we witness a discussion between Cristi and his wife about the meaning of a tearjerker text. That discussion is funny and sad at the same time, because we hear between the lines how bad their marriage is. Even funnier (and sadder) is the discussion between Cristi and his boss Anghelache. Armed with a dictionary and ironclad logic, the chef gives a lecture on semantics that are impossible to get into, even though as a viewer you understand that something is not quite right.

Of course, the alternating between stationary sequences and verbal confrontations has a purpose. Director/screenwriter Poromboiu wants to show that you can only catch reality through observation. Words only make noise. At the same time, Poromboiu points out the danger of written laws, especially if the enforcers of those laws leave no room for the human dimension. With Romanian history in mind, this is a relevant message.

The urgency of that message does not elevate ‘Police, Adjective’ to urgent cinema. The endless stretches in which nothing happens make it far too long even for fans of radical arthouse. As a short film ‘Police, Adjective’ would undoubtedly be more enjoyable. Now it is a changeable film that sometimes amuses, sometimes irritates. In addition, it is ironic that a film about the limitations of language has to rely mainly on some beautiful dialogues.