Slowest movie ever - Politist, adjectiv (2009) Discussion

[–] dan_AKA 14 years ago

Most of the surveillance sequences unfold in real time, allowing us to experience Cristi’s world and daily routine as he does, an audience-baiting risk that does make sense, since we gain pertinent bits of knowledge about Cristi in the same manner that he assembles a dossier on his shiftless, possibly innocent suspect: through patient observation of his everyday behavior and body language, his haunts and habits.

http://reverseshot.com/article/police_adjective

When he was shooting it, I'm sure Porumboiu knew that it was going to work for some and not for others. It worked for me - I learned a lot about the characters when they weren't speaking. Unfortunately I feel like Porumboiu undoes a little bit of it at the end with the humorous dictionary climax, as it seemed like he was asserting his point a little too bluntly. Oh well, not everything a filmmaker does is tailored to my wants as a viewer.

when we were kids you were the sun to which my eyes would not adjust

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[–] imaintdan 14 years ago

Yeah, this isn't for everybody.

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[–] Narrator_Jack_dot_com 14 years ago

This is made by HBO Romania? Is there an HBO in every country? All the ridiculously long takes where only the total mundane was occurring should have had compelling narration or Romanian rock as audio instead of ambient sound.

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[–] ePastor_Hardy 14 years ago

That in his line of work, there are frequent stretches of time that equate to absolute boredom. It was very perceptive (albeit challenging for my lazy ass) of Porumboiu. It was taking the viewer along with the character of Cristi, to experience his dull, often insomnia-curing duties, and how his character beared through it all. And that's pretty challenging to maintain that control and focus during those long, unadulterated takes as well, so major kudos to Bucur.

It was all worth it though when he came home and bitched to his wife about that awful song she was torturing us all with, rofl. That was hilarious.

FYC: Melissa Leo, The Fighter.

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[–] melinda2001 10 years ago

The difference between how we and Christi experience that boredom is that he got paid for most of it whereas we had to pay. Sometimes my fast-forward button is my best friend.

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] yoda87960 14 years ago

I fast forwarded threw the last half of the waiting room sequence. It was insane. Real time waiting. Good lord. All of this to figure out the basis of every cop movie ever made - I only enforce the law, I don't make it up as I go. Otherwise, I'm not a cop. I've seen more action in an episode of Barney Miller. In fact, much of the police department stuff in this movie could have been done (and probably was) on Barney Miller. Just add a laugh track.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] fckin_quintana 13 years ago

Well put. I understand the idea of showing long scenes of him waiting outside the house or following his target but the eating scenes were totally unecessary. Especially since we had to watch him eating two different meals at 5 mins each! I really don't think they added anything to the experience.

It reminded me a lot of "Hunger" with the long stationary shots with no dialogue. "Hunger" was far better though- it simply had a better story to tell.

"Hey, this is a private residence, man!"

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[–] rkiste-815-12624 13 years ago

I totally agree with stenharo. I really like european slow paced movies, but these long shots in this movie are meaningless and boring, it really doesn't help with understanding Cristi character.
It could be a very nice short movie. That's all.

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[–] ruairiob 13 years ago

Yes this is the most boring movie ever but that's why it is so good...

I know that seems ridiculous but think of it like this- When something is earned it has a special added value. If you work your arse off for your first bike as a kid then it is more prized than if it is given to you.

Along the same lines it really feels at the end of this movie like you have earned a special sense of release.

The central dilemma in this film is one that I imagine every policeman must face up to at some point in their career. In a Hollywood studio picture the cop would sit at the bar with a pal, chew over it for two minutes make a decision and move on. Here however we see a man really agonize over things and it makes the end of the film far more powerful for it.

A really unusual and interesting film.

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[–] ButterGut 13 years ago

Many of these scenes served a function:

* Taken together, they established that Cristi's good cop whose never neglectful of his duties; all of his observations made it into the report

* The shot of the secretary typing illustrated her narrow-mindness of the bureaucracy; it also worked like a prisoner waiting for execution

* The scene with his wife re: the song foreshadowed the parsing of language in the finale; it also showed that Cristi often tried to cut through the surface for what he felt was the truth

* The long takes established the amount of time Cristi spent on the case, giving his superior another reason to force an arrest

* The long takes also established a great feel for the flat, gray settings of the town in which Cristi worked; it also suggested that it seemed to be such a limited crime area that it would make sense for his superiors push this case to feed the bureaucratic monster

* The second scene of the meal with his wife showed that they had a communicative relationship, and that Cristi was capable of listening to someone else regarding the language he used in his report, which is of course important to the ending

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[–] quendino 13 years ago

Are you kidding me ? It's all about a guy thinking about doing or not doing the job he is payed for. This is not a good cop, it's a guy who should have never became a cop.

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[–] ssa2204 13 years ago

I think you kind of missed the point, yes he was "paid" as a cop, but did you pay any attention to any dialog in the film? Did you pay attention to when he discussed his vacation? It is not about doing the job he is paid for, but the sheer absurdity of what he was being paid to do, or shall I say ordered to do. What was legal in one place, was illegal there. Were the laws going to be brought in line to other EU customs? Did all that time and resources really need to be spent on some kid? Remember the whole point of this was setting up a sting operation on a big drug dealer who was nothing more than a high school kid, who supposed friend was the informant. And let's not forget the motivations of his friend. Watch that final scene where they plot the takedown, and it shows the absurdity of what he wanted to avoid.

In the end I took this as another film that simply mirrors the transition and troubles away from Ceausescu. Romanians have especially used film as introspection on their history and society more than any other former Eastern European state.

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[–] quendino 13 years ago

Yes, there were so few dialogs in the film that they were pretty hard to miss :D
But once again, I find the character unrealistic - although the movie wants to be a realistic one. How many cops have you seen giving a damn, especially in the Romanian Police? And it's not the job of a policeman to secure a kid's future - his job is to make sure other kids won't get the sh**t one of them is selling. I know it's about ONE joint, but that's how it all starts. Cristi worries about that high school kid's future but he doesn't care about a lot of other kids' future, kids who in 2 or 3 years would have switched joints to heroine because HE was asking stupid questions about his job rather than actually DOING his job.

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[–] berd-sena 13 years ago

Oh give me a break the kid's future is at stake because of hash? Please... this film does EXACTLY what it says on the tin, it shows the absurdity, especially in ex-Communist countries (as well as what seems to be the encroachment of police statism worldwide) of the function of police. There was no need to take this one incident out of context as the Captain decided to do. In fact the Captain got it all wrong, he says one has to set the example by enforcing the law? Did none of you see the hypocrisy of all this? It is interesting that Cristi didn't bring up the previous Regime when the police were "enforcing" ridiculous laws that were inhumane but I think that was the point of the director. It doesn't matter WHAT regime, just because it is the Law and it is State legislated does NOT make it right. But in the end people DO what they HAVE to do because everyone needs to pay the bills. It's business as usual, and that was the purpose of the end.

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[–] hadok 12 years ago

I really like your analysis, it makes a lot of sense. However, I could film a white wall for five minutes and ALSO make an analysis along the lines of "showing that not everything is dark and grey, that there are things of light, hope and virginity still around us". Yes, you can do that for absolutely everything. I can agree to some extent that there's probably some meaning to the long, extremely boring shots of Cristi stalking the kid, BUT, there is absolutely no meaning to watching him eat - twice.

I love all kinds of movies, and some of the best ones I've seen are very sparse on dialogue and are very slow. However, I must say this is by far one of the most boring movies I have ever seen in my life. It's not the worst (still gave it a 3), but far more boring than movies I've rated lower than 3.

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[–] Saluton 12 years ago

1) "never neglectful" - yeah, indeed, especially when he hides from his boss. Otherwise, he was just doing his job and there isn't that much he observed anyway. Besides, we don't know if those were actually all of his observations because the stakeout lasted for several hours every day

2) a typing secretary is a symbol of narrow-minded bureaucracy? That's just plain silly. What was she supposed to do at work? Read the case herself and agree with Cristi? Moreover, I saw no reason to expect Cristi would be executed or even punished in the captain's office. If it had been possible, he would just have done the sting straight away without thinking

3) that scene is good, I agree here

4) how is the amount of time Cristi spent on the case connected with any reasons to force an arrest?

5) short takes could establish a great feel as well. Even the characters' speaking manner does it. "Push this case to feed the bureaucratic monster"? You mean the work of police is all about feeding the bureaucratic monster? And that's how police officers think of it? And they have to decide whether to feed it? If they don't like their job, they should just quit it

6) Cristi would just be a piece of crap if he were unable to listen to others

On the whole, I agree with CursedShadow. A good movie, despite the fact that a police captain trying to persuade his subordinate for twenty minutes about something related to a trifling case is just unthinkable; a real captain would say, "I order to do the sting and orders are not something you can question" or even, "Shut the *beep* up and do as I say." The movie is hardly about moral principles. It's good because it makes people think about language and the words we use

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[–] heynow123 12 years ago

I was surprised this movie won any awards at all! Boring and in need of editing. Grade: D-.

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[–] andell 12 years ago

Yeah, but that's life!!!

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[–] g_imdb-43 11 years ago

Agreed! I like art films, but this was the second-worst movie I've ever seen (worst was Blair Witch). There has to be a better way to make a film about boredom that to make it dreadful boring. If not, then you shouldn't make it at all.

And as long and boring as this film was, it was really only part one of the story! Part two - the actual "sting operation." Part three - the trial. Part four - long years in jail. Part five - getting out and finding more hash!

--Gary Davis

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