Plot
Vaslui, Romania: Eastern. A few years after the fall of the Communist regime, some inhabitants of a city discuss how to celebrate the anniversary of the event. They then decide to organize a television broadcast on a local broadcaster and make a celebratory talk show, involving people by telephone. So Virgil Jderescu, director of the local television station, really wants to organize a live talk show to answer a simple question: has there really been a revolution in this city? Did people take to the streets before or after Ceausescu's escape and therefore the fall? Because if they took to the streets later, then it is not about the Revolution but about simple celebrations. But the two expected guests decline the commitment, perhaps because the topic is more thorny than Jderescu thinks. But he manages to overcome those absences and invites two other people. The first is Tiberiu Manescu, a drunkard and penniless professor who has always boasted that he was the first in town to challenge the men of the dictator. The other guest is Emanoil Piscoci, a rigorous and paranoid old man who at that time used to dress up as Santa Claus for children. The broadcast begins and Professor Manescu proudly exposes his experience as a revolutionary, but immediately two viewers call live denying his presence in the square that day and accusing him of speaking under the influence of alcohol, without however having evidence that Manescu really lies. The calm confrontation begins to become embarrassing when Manescu, unnerved, begins to blurt out the flaws of some local "notables", including the same editor / presenter Virgil Jderescu who apparently is not a journalist but a textile engineer on loan to television. The talk-show, initially feel-good and formal, takes a grotesque and scurrile turn, given that even the elderly Piscoci, hitherto silent, pretends to be a "philosopher" of the situation and begins to say nonsense in bursts.Cast
Reception
The American review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 96% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 47 reviews with an average rating of 7.79/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "With a witty script full of satirical overtones and dry humor, ''12:08 East of Bucharest'' is a thoroughly enjoyable Romanian comedy." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 77 out of 100, based on 15 reviews. The film has garnered positive press in the United States; J. Hoberman of '' The Village Voice'' called it, "a casually bleak and neatly structured ensemble comedy—at once deadpan and bemused." Noel Murray of '' The A.V. Club'' said "the story and the situation are slight, but in the best possible way." Richard Brody of '' The New Yorker'' called it a "wise and gentle comedy of political realism." Wendy Ide of '' The Times'' described the film as "one of the best of the new wave of Romanian cinema" and "a droll delight that questions the nature of historical record and the realities of postcommunist Romania with a slyly comic and disarmingly self-mocking tone."Wendy IdeSee also
*References
External links
* * {{Caméra d'Or Romanian comedy films Romanian satirical films Films directed by Corneliu Porumboiu 2000s Romanian-language films Works about the Romanian Revolution Films about revolutions Romanian political satire films Films set in Romania Vaslui 2006 comedy films 2006 films Caméra d'Or winners