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Movies / On DVD / The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

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The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2006)

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Reviews Counted:73

Fresh:68

Rotten:5

Average Rating:8/10

Consensus: Shot in naturalistic style, this is a powerful indictment of absurdity and indifference in the face of human suffering.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language and brief nudity

Runtime: 2 hrs 33 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Apr 26, 2006 Limited

Synopsis: Shot in Romania, THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU follows the title character as he waits for attention in a rundown hospital emergency ward. Fans of Lars Von Trier's THE KINGDOM should find much to love... Shot in Romania, THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU follows the title character as he waits for attention in a rundown hospital emergency ward. Fans of Lars Von Trier's THE KINGDOM should find much to love here, as Lazarescu's trip to the medical unit descends into a nightmare-ish journey of horrendous mistreatment at the hands of the hospital staff. [More]

Starring: Luminita Gheorghiu

Starring: Luminita Gheorghiu

Director: Cristi Puiu

Director: Cristi Puiu
Studio: Tartan Films

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Release:

Sep 12, 2006

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Reviews for The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
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Cristi Puiu doesn't pull his punches in his barbed black comedy on the state of socialized medicine in Hungary.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment 2 Comments
06/04/06
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Think of this Romanian import as the anti-E.R. -- no high drama, no kinetic editing and no caring, camera-ready doctors.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
04/28/06
E! Online

[A] magnificently damning critique on healthcare... done with a devil's sense of humor that then calls you out on your laughter.

Full Review Source: Premiere Magazine | comment Comment
10/08/05
Aaron Hillis
Aaron Hillis
Premiere Magazine

Amid all the hospital byplay, there is a trenchant portrait of a people and their society.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
05/03/06
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

...the cinematic equivalent of a shaggy-dog story: the inevitable, deliberately anticlimactic punchline is less important than the length to which the buildup is protracted.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
05/04/06
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

blending social commentary with spiritual allegory, it traces one man's nocturnal descent into the Circle of Hell that is Romania's healthcare service

Full Review Source: musicOMH.com | comment Comment
06/15/07
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
musicOMH.com

Not the easiest film of the year, but certainly among the best.

Full Review Source: european-films.net | comment Comment
10/01/05
Boyd van Hoeij
Boyd van Hoeij
european-films.net

This deathly film is crafted with such ease that it comes appallingly alive. A slowly suffocating, masterly work of social realism that shrouds you in a melancholy look at mortality.

Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | comment Comment
12/21/06
Brian Gibson
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

a gentle parable of the delicacy of mortality

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
04/25/06
Chris Cabin
Chris Cabin
Filmcritic.com

The film seems pitiless as it records every detail but, as you watch a man who clings to life and an ambulance driver whose search for a hospital becomes a mythic quest, what you're left with is compassion.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
06/15/06
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Puiu maintains a strong current of suspense about the outcome -- despite the title, will this Lazarus be revived? --- and a bracingly cynical sense of humor that rescues the material from being a total downer.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
06/15/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

The film’s real success is that Puiu impresses both with his compassion for human behaviour and his tight grip on realist, documentary-style filmmaking.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Dave Calhoun
Dave Calhoun
Time Out

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, for all its terrible matter-of-factness, produces tumultuous feelings of amazement and revolt.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
04/24/06
David Denby
David Denby
New Yorker
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This Romanian movie defies categorization -- it's halfway between a black comedy and a Fred Wiseman documentary. And it haunts you like the ghost of any dead person you've ever ignored.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
05/05/06
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
New York Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Stay with it and you'll discover a devastatingly powerful blast at red tape and an achingly moving examination of what we will all have to face one day.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
07/14/06
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

This is not an easy film to watch, nor is it one to enthusiastically recommend to your friends. However, it will leave its mark on you.

Full Review Source: Kaplan vs. Kaplan | comment Comment
05/23/06
David Kaplan
David Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan

Fiscuteanu's Lazarescu is a strange, compelling creation, and if you allow it time, this haunting, artful movie will get under your skin.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
06/06/06
David Mattin
David Mattin
BBC

Long, but engrossing and frequently enraging drama that not only exposes the flaws in the Romanian health service, but also in modern humanity.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
07/14/06
David Parkinson
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine

One of the the most remarkable medical dramas ever attempted.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/28/06
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A real-surreal odyssey through medical metropolis-as-inferno.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/27/05
Donald J. Levit
Donald J. Levit
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
 
 
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