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Police, Adjective


The critical consensus

A riveting slice of Romanian new wave drama, haunted by shadows of the Ceausescu era and never less than thought-provoking.

****(*)David Parkinson, Empire Online

At Cannes the audience was purring with delight; partly at a cop movie that outwits every cop-movie expectation, partly because the devil of Draconianism gets the best arguments and we, the liberal-hearted viewers, feel as stretched, racked, tested and challenged as the lovably forlorn hero.

*****Nigel Andrews, Financial Times, 29/09/2010

The insidious humour and fascination with moral quandaries keep it consistently engrossing.

****(*)Philip Kemp, Total Film, 27/09/2010

This whole film is very "police": that is, not exciting or dramatic, but suspicious, cynical and exhausted.

***(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 30/09/2010

Patience with Police, Adjective feels more than justified – it feels rewarded.

****(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 01/10/2010

The pace of the narrative is positively glacial, there are long stretches without dialogue (or incident), and he uses a fixed camera to record interminable scenes of mind-numbing tedium. But the final deadpan sequence in which Cristi’s boss laboriously attempts to teach him the meaning of the word conscience is a small absurdist triumph.

***(*)(*)Marc Lee, The Telegraph, 30/09/2010

Sadly, the film does little more than illuminate the audacity of a film-maker intent on testing the benevolence of his audience by presenting them with nothing of interest to watch.

**(*)(*)(*)Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 02/10/2010

One of the most fascinating movies of the year.

Philip French, The Observer, 03/10/2010

Police, Adjective makes the gritty-realist longueurs of The Wire look like Transformers, and the mundanity of The Bill look like Miami Vice.

Johathan Romney, The Independent on Sunday, 03/10/2010


Features about Police, Adjective

Police, Adjective--Corneliu Porumboiu profile

Paul Dale, The List, 06/10/2010

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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