Police, Adjective (2009)
A Romanian film called Politist, adj., easy to watch from my part since I am also Romanian. Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu, the story of a young policeman who’s got a big dilemma: should he arrest or not a young man (high-school age) who’s smoking “pot” and also offering to 2 of his closest friends.
The policeman is certain it’s not the kid who’s dealing the actual drugs, so he’d like to go after the source, more than the kid. He’s also recently married and had visited Prague with his wife. The “pot” is legal there and he hopes Romania will become more relaxed with the law too. Till then, there’s a big question for him: do I bust the kid or not?
The entire movie is slow-paced following the main character to work, back home, on the streets, in his boss’ office and so on. To me it was way too “slow” and dark. I understand this new wave of “social movies”, but I am firm believer our movie-creators have gone too far with these movies. I can’t remember a “relaxing” movie they created, all are “hard and dark”. If you’re not having a very dark setting, then you’re having some rapes, murders, anything similar filmed to the best details. It’s good to see in a movie, if 90% of them deal with the Comunism, crimes and rapes, you’re getting a bit tired of the recipe.
What I like about the movie is that you’re not dealing with the usual forced sex scene you kinda see in most of our latest movies and, even if it’s still dark and somber, the movie doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on this “misery”. Kinda boring at some point, trying to go way to deep into his normal routine, with interesting dialogues (in some parts) and an overall challenging moral dilemma.
Cannot say the movie is a fiasco, even if I haven’t enjoyed it too much. Would I recommend it? I think I would. It does have some interesting points and it’s not difficult to watch. Lacking some “hardcore” scenes, the movie can be seen even with your entire family, with no fear your kids might be scarred by some of the images. Would I see it again? I am afraid not.
Tags: 2009, Corneliu Porumboiu, Police Adjective
