POLICE, ADJECTIVE (2009) – drama film online

Directed by: Corneliu Porumboiu
Script: Corneliu Porumboiu
Cast: Dragoș Bucur, Vlad Ivanov, Irina Saulescu, Ion Stoica, Marian Ghenea, George Remes, Cosmin Seleși, Adina Dulcu
Producer: Marcela Ursu
Cinematography by: Marius Panduru
Edited by: Roxana Szel
Sound: Alexandru Dragomir, Sebastian Zsemlye
Year: 2009
Category: Feature film
Genre: Crime, drama, dark comedy
Duration: 90 minutes

5 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

A police officer (Dragoș Bucur) refuses to arrest a young man for offering drugs to his friends.

AWARDS

• 2009 – Jury Prize, Un Certain Regard section, Cannes 2009 – FIPRESCI Prize, Cannes
• 2009 – Festival on Wheels, 2009, Artvin – Grand Prize
• 2010 – Gopo Awards – Best Film Award
• 2010 – Gopo Awards – Best Director Award (Corneliu Porumboiu)
• 2010 – Gopo Awards – Best Cinematography Award (Marius Panduru)
• 2010 – Gopo Awards – Best Actor Award (Dragoș Bucur)
• 2010 – Gopo Awards – Best Supporting Actor Award (Vlad Ivanov)
• 2010 – Gopo Awards – Best Screenplay Award (Corneliu Porumboiu)
• 2009 – Cannes, Un certain regard section – Jury Prize

FESTIVALS

• 2009 – Academy Awards – nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
• 2009 – New York Film Festival
• 2009 – Vukovar Film Festival in Croatia
• 2009 – Toronto International Film Festival
• 2009 – Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico
• 2009 – International Film Festival Tomorrow in Russia
• 2009 – Filmfest Hamburg
• 2009 – Warsaw Film Festival in Poland
• 2009 – Antalya International Film Festival
• 2009 – Viennale International Film Festival
• 2009 – Seville Film Festival
• 2009 – Golden Horse in Taiwan

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“Corneliu Porumboiu is not only an impeccable craftsman — in the technical, artisanal sense of the director’s craft—but also one of the most refined connoisseurs of human nature.” – Iulia David – agenda.liternet.ro

“It is the film that takes the realistic revolution triggered in Romanian cinema by Cristi Puiu the furthest, dispensing not only with dramatic amplifiers such as music, ‘expressive’ visuals, etc., but also with any connection to what is usually understood by ‘dramatic action’. While in “The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu”, “The Paper Will Be Blue”, “12:08 East of Bucharest” “432,” etc., at least some of the traditional laws of dramatic spectacle continue to function (in “…Lăzărescu,” “The Paper…” and “432” there is a race against time; in “12:08 East of Bucharest” there are jokes), here there are only facts — blocks of solid reality, animated only minimally by the principle of dramatic necessity and unprocessed in any way by the author who speaks to us through them. They do not become signs of the author, addressed to the viewer; they remain blocks of perfectly intact reality—a policeman waits, a policeman eats, a policeman follows a suspect who does nothing special, a policeman reads some definitions from the dictionary.” – Andrei Gorzo, agenda.liternet.ro

“The “real time” in Corneliu Porumboiu’s film is not really real time. When the protagonist — a police officer played by Dragoș Bucur — is forced to wait in his office for 10 minutes until the meeting he wants to skip begins, the viewer does not have to wait with him for the entire 10 minutes. When he waits in front of the closed door of a colleague’s office, after she told him on the phone that she would be back in 10 minutes, the viewer — again — does not have to wait with him for the entire 10 minutes. But in both cases, the viewer stays with him and waits for a good part of the announced time.” – Andrei Gorzo, agenda.liternet.ro

“Police, Adjective” is an abstract film – as abstract as a philosophical construct or a Kandinsky painting. It is about words, compromises, surveillance, and punishment, see Foucault. But in order to make all these “scholarly” things intelligible, Porumboiu had to anchor them in reality. Realism is not his motive: that is just filler. The slice of life is not interesting in itself — unless, perhaps, you are a sociologist or have a fetish for real (dead) times; what is interesting is the combination of that abstract drawing with the everyday things we recognize in the film. Because, in fact, that slice of life — and this is the paradox — does not make you empathize with it, even though it is so “like life”; once you move it to the screen, it becomes a sign. Slowness becomes a fixed point. Waiting becomes “A.” – Alex. Leo Șerban, agenda.liternet.ro

“Conscience is the unseen (and uncomfortable) main character in Corneliu Porumboiu’s film. What should be noted from the outset in “Police, Adjective” is its distinctly laconic style, its authentic cinematic feel. For a story filmed mostly in open spaces, studio apartments, or claustrophobic police offices, we find surprisingly few “splashes of color” that another director would have exploited to the fullest. It is, after all, a film about a character — a “law enforcement officer” — caught in a moral dilemma. What matters, Porumboiu seems to say, are not the spicy details (typology, licentious language, etc.) of the colorful environment under investigation, but the inner and outer movements of this character.” – Marian Rădulescu, agenda.liternet.ro

“I felt like a guinea pig in an exercise of power — the police chief over his subordinate and the film director over me, the viewer. The question mark grew when (after the screening at TIFF) Corneliu Porumboiu said that his primary interest was to bring to the screen a story in its real dynamics, in time and at a pace that respects the passage of such a story in society. In other words, his intention is to interpret reality, to discuss it (cinematographically) as closely as possible to its true values.” – Lucian Maier, agenda.liternet.ro

“Ever since his short film “A Trip to the City” (2003), Corneliu Porumboiu has drawn our attention to a group of filmmakers who are still unknown in Romanian cinema, only partially and rarely anticipated by a forgotten predecessor such as Iulian Mihu (The Pale Light of Sorrow – 1980), or the first feature films of his contemporaries Cristi Puiu, Cristian Mungiu, and Radu Muntean: directors with an intrinsically Romanian cinematic style.” – Valerian Sava, agenda.liternet.ro

“In one of the best Romanian films of all time, Corneliu Porumboiu questions cinematic language and the very idea of language through a story polished like a diamond in which post-communist society shines through in the smallest details.” – Iulia Blaga, agenda.liternet.ro

“Porumboiu is renowned for his parsimony. The film suits him perfectly. It is not about drugs or the Romanian police, but about how grammar governs our lives and how worn out languages are today.” – Iulia Blaga, agenda.liternet.ro

“A perfectly paced, low-key absurd comedy (…) well controlled visually and tonally, in which a simple dictionary is masterfully transformed into a weapon of control.” – Manohla Dargis

“Cornel Porumboiu insisted on surveillance actions, not in real time, of course, but with lengths that suggest waiting, the monotony of action, walking us through dusty offices, with papers piled up on each table, metal filing cabinets, repulsive functionalist furniture, bored employees who would rather be anywhere else, an environment that breathes the stale, impersonal air of courtrooms, storage rooms, and fear.” – Angelo Mitchevici, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• On July 1, 2009, the film had a preview screening and press conference prior to its official release in cinemas across the country.
• The premiere took place on July 2, 2009, at Cinema Pro.
• Director Corneliu Porumboiu stated in an interview with Iulia Blaga: “I don’t even believe in the phrase ‘the film is my child,’ because I have a child at home. I know that Police, Adjective is not a mainstream film, but I believe I have my own audience (…) and that the film will be enjoyed by viewers who have seen Bresson or Buster Keaton, who know that cinema is 100 years old and that it is not life.”
• “A fake policier”, says the director in the same interview.
• “The plot is classic, detective-style. I thought a lot about this genre when I wrote the script. The film is a policier, but it’s edited for anticipation, not action.” (Corneliu Porumboiu) – agenda.liternet.ro
• Dragoş Bucur did not attend the screening of the film at Cannes because he was filming with Peter Weir. He only saw Porumboiu’s film at a private screening: “I would say”, he told HotNews, “that it’s a blockbuster film. I don’t think it excels in camera work, imagery, or acting… But all these are cogs in a mechanism that works perfectly. If you take the acting out of context, you’ll see that it’s average acting. My opinion is that it’s very good in the context of the film, and I’m very happy about that”. – Iulia Blaga, agenda.liternet.ro
• Irina Săulescu was noticed by Corneliu Porumboiu in Radu Jude’s short film “Dimineaţa” (Morning). “I found it strange that he noticed me in such a small role”, she told HotNews. – Iulia Blaga, agenda.liternet.ro
• Marian Ghenea, the actor who plays Cristi’s boss (Dragoș Bucur), said: “In a single day of filming, I discovered things I thought I had lost long ago. When working with actors, Corneliu manages to suspend time. For a 50-year-old actor, it’s a great joy”. – Iulia Blaga, agenda.liternet.ro
• Read the film script here: agenda.liternet.ro

LINES:

 • “I don’t think he’s a drug dealer, because he doesn’t sell.” – Cristi (Dragoș Bucur)
• “Prague is beautiful too, it’s even called the ‘Golden City’. It has many buildings plated in gold. I saw a theater with a ceiling entirely covered in gold.” – Cristi (Dragoș Bucur)
• “That’s what I was telling you about the Czech Republic. I went there with my wife. People were smoking on the street, they didn’t care. No one asked any questions. I am firmly convinced that in a few years the law will change here too.” – Cristi (Dragoș Bucur)
• “I don’t want to put this guy in jail, only to see him on the street again in seven years.” – Cristi (Dragoș Bucur)
• “But when you smoke hashish, aren’t you afraid they’ll smell you?” – Cristi (Dragoș Bucur)
• “Honestly, Anca, this song makes no sense (Nu te părăsesc, iubire, by Mirabela Dauer). What would a field be without flowers? What would the sea be without the sun? What could it be? Still a field, still the sea.” – Cristi (Dragoș Bucur)
• “This kid is going to do seven years in prison for a joint. (…) I say we’re ruining his life for nothing.” – Cristi (Dragoș Bucur)
• “This unconscious person has already influenced two other unconscious people, who in turn will influence others, and so on. And you want us to just sit here and watch them, right?” – Commander (Vlad Ivanov)
• “Have you ever heard of the word ‘conscience’?” – Commander (Vlad Ivanov)
• “You really don’t understand anything? So you have until 4 o’clock to think about it. I’ll talk to the prosecutor, he’ll come too. Nelu, you’ll come at 4 o’clock too.” – Commander (Vlad Ivanov)
• “This is dormitory number 14. The children smoke here. (…) Here’s what I propose: I’ll stay inside with Nelu. A crew should stay here with the witnesses. The witnesses can be picked up from the construction site nearby. A crew should stay here, at the entrance on Ștefan Street. You and the prosecutor should stay on the alley that leads to Berzelor Street. (…) They have nowhere to go.” – Cristi (Dragoș Bucur)

ARTICLES:

• “About time, space, culture, and Corneliu Porumboiu. In two parts – Police, Adjective,” Liviu Ornea – agenda.liternet.ro
• “How I spent Police, Adjective?”, by Radu Enescu – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Thoughts on a certain type of film (III) – Police, Adjective”, by Marian Rădulescu – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Briefly about a great film – Police, Adjective”, by HBO Editorial Staff – agenda.liternet.ro
• “From Black to White – Police, Adjective”, by Eduard Țone – agenda.liternet.ro
• “The Right to Be Difficult – Police, Adjective”, by Alex. Leo Șerban – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Police, Adjective, or About Everyday Nothingness”, by Dumitrița Stoica – agenda.liternet.ro
• “About the Realism of Police, Adjective (Letter to Andrei Gorzo)”, by Alex. Leo Șerban, letter to Andrei Gorzo – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Where There Is Law, There Is No Morality?! – Police, Adjective”, by Corina Muntean – agenda.liternet.ro
• “What Porumboiu wants – Police, Adjective”, by Lucian Maier – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Turning words into swords – Police, Adjective”, by Angelo Mitchevici – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Film as perfectly integrated reality – Police, Adjective”, by Andrei Gorzo – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Short and to the point about a benchmark film – Police, Adjective”, various authors – agenda.liternet.ro
• “A great film – Police, Adjective”, by Mihai Fulger – agenda.liternet.ro
• “A refined story with a lot of substance – Police, Adjective”, by Iulia David – agenda.liternet.ro
• “About the boldness of Police, Adjective”, Mihnea Columbeanu – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Cinema, superlative – Police, Adjective”, by Maria Andrieș – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Corneliu Porumboiu: I don’t believe in the phrase ‘the film is my child’ because I have a child at home – Police, Adjective”, by Iulia Blaga – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Vlad Ivanov: As a child, I wanted to have an old friend so that I could grow wise quickly – Police, Adjective”, by Andreea Chiriac Hentea – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Text message – Police, Adjective”, by Ana-Maria Onisei – agenda.liternet.ro
•  “Scripta Volant – Police Officer, Adjective,” by Andrei Crețulescu – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Production, Film – Metabolism”, Lucian Maier – agenda.liternet.ro
• “10 Years of Romanian Film. Episode 9 – 2009,” by Iulia Blaga – agenda.liternet.ro
• “Police, Adjective” – icr.ro
• “Police, Adjective”: Words and Things, by Andrei Gorzo, andreigorzoblog.wordpress.com
• “Police, Adjective” in American cinemas – icr.ro
• “Police, Adjective” – festival-cannes.com
• “Film review: Police, Adjective, by Iulia Blaga – hotnews.ro
• “Police, Adjective” – istoriafilmului.ro
• “Life beats the movies: the house around which the film “Police, Adjective” was shot is actually inhabited by a famous drug dealer in Vaslui” – adevarul.ro

This premiere is part of a national archive project supported by the Romanian National Film Centre.
Special thanks goes to the Romanian Filmmakers Union and to the Romanian Film Archive.

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