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Politist, adj. (Police, Adjective)

Politist, adj. (Police, Adjective) (2009)

tomatometer

100

Average Rating: 8.2/10
Critic Reviews: 18
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 0

No consensus yet.

audience

59

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 1,382

My Rating

Movie Info

A cop finds himself growing uncomfortable with his latest assignment in this study in the nature of power and authority from Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu. Cristi (Dragos Bucur) is a seasoned police detective who has just gotten married to Anca (Irina Saulescu) and wants to keep his superiors happy. Cristi's boss, Nelu (Ion Stoica), has ordered the detective to keep a close watch on Victor (Radu Costin), a teenager who is suspected of dealing drugs for a local cartel. Cristi has spent

Jun 1, 2010

$26.7k

IFC Films

All Critics (72) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (57) | Rotten (16) | DVD (3)

An absorbing and contemplative detective story in which the high point of the action involves reading from a dictionary. Really.

March 12, 2010 Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | Comment
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Porumboiu's style is steady, observational, his camera tracking Cristi along the streets in much the way Cristi tracks his subject.

January 28, 2010 Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | Comment
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I suspect that those versed in the arcana of Romanian politics will get the most out of this movie, but its moral issues, revolving as they do around matters of rightness and repression, are certainly universal.

January 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | Comment
Christian Science Monitor
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Simultaneously a police procedural, an analysis of language and imagery, a philosophical debate about law and justice, and a very, very dry Romanian Martini -- so dry that, at first, one doesn't quite taste much of anything.

January 25, 2010 Full Review Source: New Yorker | Comment
New Yorker
Top Critic IconTop Critic

In its own way, this is one of the most intense cop movies you'll see.

January 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Boston Globe | Comment
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[A] low-boiling but addictive story about a young police detective who's begun to question the justice of the drug laws he's enforcing.

January 15, 2010 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A major film, and a troubling one, a key piece of the Romanian New Wave finally makes its way to home video.

September 5, 2011 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

Intellectually and aesthetically Police, Adjective is a film of merit but that doesn't make it any easier to endure.

October 11, 2010 Full Review Source: Daily Express | Comment
Daily Express

Un viaje a través de los laberintos del poder y de la burocracia, con una economía narrativa que, por más que ponga a prueba la paciencia del espectador, luce plenamente al servicio de su anécdota.

October 7, 2010 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | Comment
Uruguay Total

It's one of those films which, on its placid but pointed surface, seems to be about nothing very much but manages by its end to tell us a great deal.

October 6, 2010 Full Review Source: This is London | Comment
This is London

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.

October 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Scotsman | Comment

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

September 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

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

September 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

Complex, intellectually rigorous and yet incredibly enjoyable on multiple levels.

September 30, 2010 Comment
Little White Lies

Porumboiu's film is proof that a police procedural can be compelling even without the genre's usual maverick sleuthing or combustible action.

September 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Radio Times | Comment
Radio Times

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

September 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

Necessarily infuriating but finally very rewarding.

September 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

A "police procedural" with a difference: the policeman hero refuses to proceed.

September 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Financial Times | Comment
Financial Times

Porumboiu's minimalist style can be a chore to sit through at times, but part of the film's brilliant innovation is how it manages to be so rich while expending as little effort as possible.

July 4, 2010 Full Review Source: DCist | Comment

There's something comic about cops writing dictionary definitions on a blackboard. But there's a tragic undertone as well, because those in power get to define what those words mean.

June 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | Comment
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Politist, adj. (Police, Adjective)

Definition of 'slow' (don't watch this if your sleepy), earnest, European arthouse indulgence. Certainly puts across the tedium of police work with langorous passages where we watch, wait and walk with the characters.

April 17, 2011
gor41
Gordon A

Super Reviewer

An "inaction" cop film that's quiet, slow paced, and moody, Politist, adj. requires patience to allow the story to settle in and the characters to develop. There are many long takes during the almost real-time narrative of the film. The stake-outs come to mind. Heavy with dialogue, it slowly turns into a

August 18, 2010
DrBenway
El Hombre Invisible

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Police, Adjective (DE)
  • Police, Adjective (Politist, adjectiv) (UK)
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