12:08 East of Bucharest

Writer-director Corneliu Porumboiu's 12:08 East of Bucharest is set on December 22, 2005, exactly 16 years to the day after dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife fled Bucharest by helicopter (at 12:08 p.m.) to escape the wrath of the rioting populace in one of the more colorful moments in the general collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. In nearby Vaslui, a drab, almost palpably depressing little burg, TV talk show host Virgil Jderescu (Teo Corban) decides to invite a couple of locals in to discuss the key question: “Was there, or was there not, a revolution in our town?” What follows (in the film's second half—the first is taken up by various vignettes illuminating the key characters' quotidian activities) is a farcical sequence with Jderescu and his two guests, drunken history teacher Manescu (Ion Sapdaru) and "old man" Piscoci (Mircea Andreescu), reminiscing about the day in question on the air. Fans of the earlier Romanian hit The Death of Mr. Lazarescu are likely to appreciate the similar deadpan charm of 12:08 East of Bucharest. Recommended. (S. Graham)