12:08 East of Bucharest

12:08 East of Bucharest

2006 · 89 min · RO · 6.8 (101 votes)
Dir. Corneliu Porumboiu · Starring Mircea Andreescu, Teodor Corban, Ion Sapdaru, Mirela Cioabă, Luminița Gheorghiu, Cristina Ciofu · Music Rotaria
ComedyDrama

It's the 22nd of December. Sixteen years have passed since the revolution, and in a small town Christmas is about to come. Piscoci, an old retired man is preparing for another Christmas alone. Manescu, the history teacher, tries to keep up with his debts. Jderescu, the owner of a local television post, seems not to be so interested in the upcoming holidays. For him, the time to face history has come. Along with Manescu and Piscoci, he is trying to answer for himself a question which for 16 years has not had an answer: "Was it or wasn't it a revolution in their town?"

VIBE

A quiet, contemplative look at post-revolution Romania. It feels like a long, lingering conversation in a dimly lit room, filled with the weight of unspoken history and the mundane realities of everyday life.

cynicalwrymelancholicobservationalslow-burnRomanian New Waveminimalistdialogue-drivennaturalistichistorymemorydisillusionmentnational identity
▶ Stream on Criterion Channel
romanian new wave
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