"Police, Adj." - A Case of Consciousness.

Police, Adj. is Corneliu Porumboiu's latest film - written and directed in his unique style of filming, with long shots, long deep pauses, minimal but precise and sharp dialogue. In a world where we have been framed into receiving films and movies in a typical, standardized way, Police, adj. comes to challenge us into de-framing our mind, un-learning 'to watch a movie'. The best part of it is that it actually gives you the space and time to think . Every little pause, every little detail makes sense and is part of this apparently simple ordinary texture but masterfully and minutely crafted.
My friend and I last night took the director's opportunity to piece together little details like words written on walls, the position of houses, angles, shades, etc. For example, Cristi the young policeman asks his colleague to check a certain number plate and gives him the letters containing it - "AIC" - "A for Anca (female name), I for Iuda (Juda, the traitor), C for Cristi (male name)" or we could see these words written on a wall - "AF Trandafir executa / Rose Family Association Executes" which are very funny and ironic at the same time, linking directly with the end of the film.

Mr. Porumboiu works as an unseen creator who gives viewers the freedom to develop in time with the movie and his characters. At the latest edition of the International Film Festival in Sarajevo, he spoke about the link between film and time and the "time of being" as the essential element of his film vision - that the time of moving in a character is more important than any dialogue - and I think the concept of 'time of being' can be applied to viewers too as they - too - have their own time of being, of internalizing the film texture and the story. In this case, the story of the film is acutely modern and current - how young moral professionals succumb and accept defeat under the pressure of an artificial social system, but not only...