Watch 12:08 East of Bucharest For Free

One of my all time favorites.

Fresh and Exciting

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It is a nice movie to watch that discuss the idea of the 1989 revolution in a small town east of Bucharest. In a local TV station, a debate is initiated. The movie has potential that was not realized in practice. For example, it has a bit of humor that is nice. There are good actors but the script lacks any depth. You get hints that you have to analyze to understand the meaning of the movie. I did it only after the movie ended. The movie could have develop more the ideas that it presents, but finally it is disappointing. It lacks a good script. It ends suddenly leaving you with a sense the movie missed its goal. I heard other opinions that were much more negative.

Porumboiu's film is extremely funny (in a very Romanian way), and it's also very realistic. It's like I know all those crazy characters... The old man saying "It was better in the communist regime", most of the people calling just because they can and not because they have something important to say... I was very fond of the history teacher and I kept hoping that someone would call to rehabilitate him... I felt like they were stealing the most important moment of his life, his minutes of glory. He didn't have any witnesses to his presence there. And you know what happens: people with common sense, even alcoholics, they don't think they should defend themselves for something they did... and he said simply that he was there. his only friend, the Chinese shop-owner, tried to defend him, but was rejected by the rich guy, in a very prejudiced kind of way, that we see here so much... I found myself knowing that it was true... he was there before 12.08, and there was a revolution in that town, thanks to the four teachers. I guess everybody has to decide what he believes. I believe good people like Manescu never get a lucky break i this country, they are just considered suckers. And rich guys know how to manipulate people around them, like Bejan, the former secret service guy. (By the way, every member of the secret service said they were on holiday, just like Bejan). I hope Porumboiu makes us another good movie very soon!

There is really a lot to this movie. Even thought there is almost no evident action, except for the long television broadcast of an obnoxious talk show - even some apparently loose ends or inconclusive stories - the fact is you can ponder on days on this beautiful work of art. Acting is superb in most cases, and images of dusk and dawn in the freezing Romanian winter - so gray, so hard - are pure poetry.The reference to dogma, among other keen jokes, talks about a clever story writer, and a cultured film maker. I'm really glad I got to see this movie as a part of the "Eurocine" European movie showcase that visits us these days (april 08) in Bogota and the rest of Colombia. We get a chance to see the best of Romania, a country apparently so far away, yet so close to our hearts.

This is a lovely, gentle satire that comes across even to Westerners who know next to nothing of Romanian politics and must be exquisitely rich to Romanians themselves. There's a lovely air of the quiet desperation that Thoreau claimed informed the lives of the majority. The setting is a small town in Romania where the owner of a small television station (he has a staff of one, reminiscent of those ubiquitous one-man radio stations in thirties America) is obliged to telephone invitees from his home to ascertain if he can rely on them to show up for his talk-show and then has to use his beat-up car to take them there. For his talk show this December 22nd he has opted to pose the question was there a revolution in THIS small town BEFORE 12:08 on this day in 1989. The fact this this is the SIXTEENTH anniversary of the downfall of Nicolae Ceaucescu and not a rounder number like 20th also smacks of desperation. To debate this with the Host/Station owner Virgil Jderescu (Teodor Corban) are History teacher and serious alcoholic Tiberiu Manescu (Ion Sapdaru) and a retired Santa Claus Emanoil Piscoci (Micea Andreescu) and for good measure the audience are encouraged to telephone with live on-air comments. On paper this is not exactly riveting stuff but writer director Corniliu Porumboiu proves adept at capturing the quirkiness and small-time score settling of, presumably, a small Romanian town. In some ways it is reminiscent of The Fireman's Ball with the same Eastern-European flavored humor and observation. I'll certainly buy the DVD once it becomes available.