Romania unveiled (again) in Corneliu Porumboiu's funny and exotic THE TREASURE

Exotic? Well, yes. For those of us not reared in Eastern Europe, at least, the latest movie from one of Romania's crack filmmakers, Corneliu  Porumboiu (12:08 East of Bucharest; Police, Adjective; When Evening Fall on Bucharest), THE TREASURE, is quite the delightful piece of exotica in everything from its characterizations to its situations to the behavior of just about everyone on view. Oh, it's all quite "normal" on one level, and yet all is just different enough in various ways to raise eyebrows and curl lips.

Not for nothing do the characters here so often refer to the pre-Communism, Communism, and post-Communism eras. The film -- along with its characters and situations -- reflects all this, in spades.

Filmmaker Porumboiu, shown at right, tackles his tale from three perspectives -- workplace, family and history (personal and country) -- and he, as ever, makes fine use of them all. From the movie's opening in which a very young child berates his father for being late to pick him up from school, to the scene in which dad reads to his little boy from the Robin Hood story (which figures very nicely, subtly and ironically into the goings-on) through dad's job as civil servant, his relationship with his wife, and then with a slightly-too-needy neighbor, the movie teems with life and exotica in terms of how life, love and property all work in Romania today.

That father, Costi, is played by a wonderful actor named Toma Cuzin (above, and last seen on these shores as the hunky prisoner of Aferim!), here in a role that calls for him to play the put-upon peacemaker, which he manages to a "t."

Once Costi becomes involved with the neighbor (Adrian Purcarescu, above), who offers our hero what looks like a possible get-rich-quick scheme involving the title subject, the movie quickly takes off, building up a slow but steady head of steam and not a little suspense.

And yet, suspense and thrills are hardly what Porumboiu is going for. Instead he explores the often funny and ironic manner in which those close to Costi react to his new situation. From his wife to his boss to the local police near the property where this treasure is said to reside, the reactions are simultaneously witty and very telling in terms of the Romanian social contract, such as it is.

One of the film's best performances comes from the fellow (Corneliu Cozmei, above, center) who offers, cut-rate, his services as a "treasure hunter." Here, of all things, class and entitlement vs Communism and the work ethic come into amusing play.

The film's most bizarre scene is probably the one taking place in the local police department, regarding exactly to whom the police must turn to open up a certain locked box. The finale manages to be sweet, sad, and ironic as hell, while losing none of the credibility and satirical edge that Porumboiu has so cleverly built.

From Sundance Selects/IFC Films, and running a just-right 89 minutes, The Treasure hits DVD today, Tuesday, September 19, for purchase and/or rental. (It's also available now via Netflix's streaming service, for those who have it.)

Corneliu Porumboiu's POLICE, ADJECTIVE gets a theatrical/On-Demand run

A very good, very subtle, and finally very powerful movie, POLICE, ADJECTIVE by Romanian filmmaker Corneliu Porumboiu (shown below), which was part of this year's New York Film Festival, makes its theatrical & On Demand debut now. It's slow -- but, for me, never uninter-
esting because the moral question at its center becomes obvious early on, and once it grabs you, everything in the film is

then directed toward that question and/or spins off from it: What is the right, the best, thing to do for everyone concerned in this particular situation in which a student is smoking an illegal substance but is not dealing in its trade.

The person most involved in handling this situation is the police detective assigned to trail the student. We see him at work, in the field and at home with his wife, parrying with his co-workers and his bosses, trying to convince the latter of the importance of not dealing too harshly with this young man and -- in the process -- destroying his life. The detective is not a happy camper.

I was not as taken with Porumboiu's earlier 12:08 East of Bucharest as were some (it proved a little heavy-handed for me), but I found his new film remarkable: quiet and contained, full of surprise and the steady unfolding of a view of society -- Romanian -- still trapped in and enrapt with its fascist tendencies (and why not? The film is set in and around a police department). The country and its society also remain, the movie makes clear, a slave to the old laziness of the Communism work ethic, despite Romania's slowly opening up to more western, "democratic" mores.

A police procedural-cum-moral dilemma in which very little happens but what does counts for much, the film is so beautifully photo-
graphed that viewing it puts you in an almost constant state of pleasure (the crisp cinematography by Marius Panduru makes the absolute most of color, wherever it can be found). The acting by lead Dragos Bucur, above left, and Irina Saulescu (above, right) who plays his wife, as well as by Vlad Ivanov (the abortionist from 4 months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days who here plays the man in charge) is terrific, and Porumpoiu's dialog is spare until it is needed. At that point you'll want to stop and hit the rewind button, so pointed yet simultaneously on-target and obfuscatory the words become. You may also want to scream rebuttals at the screen.

Police, Adjective uses words and their "meaning," as well as their "power," in a manner I have not seen another movie manage. Like The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (though not as encompassing nor enlarging a film), it's another top-of-the-line movie from Romania.

Opening theatrically at the IFC Center tomorrow, December 23, it is concurrently screening On-Demand via local TV reception providers in various locations. View its complete release schedule here.