A history teacher, a widower and TV host walk into a television studio...it sounds like the setup to a punchline, and in many ways, it is. That's more or less the basic premise of Corneliu Porumboiu's breakout 2006 film, "12:08 East Of Bucharest." The Camera d'Or and Label Europa Cinemas winner at Cannes put the filmmaker on the international map where he has continued to gain notice, thanks to 2009's "Police, Adjective" and this year's "When Evening Falls On Bucharest Or Metabolism". But even seven years later, '12:08' still sustains as an exciting and carefully calibrated work, a film that led the charge of recent Romanian cinema."12:08 East Of Bucharest" screened as part of The Film Society Lincoln Center's Making Waves: New Romanian Cinema series. It runs from November 29th through December 10th.A history teacher, a widower and TV host walk into a television studio...it sounds like the setup to a punchline and in many ways, it is. That's more or less the basic premise of Corneliu Porumboiu's breakout 2006 film, "12:08 East Of Bucharest." The Camera d'Or and Label Europa Cinemas winner at Cannes put the filmmaker on the international map where he has continued to gain notice, thanks to 2009's "Police, Adjective" and this year's "When Evening Falls On Bucharest Or Metabolism". But even seven years later, '12:08' still sustains as an exciting and carefully calibrated work, a film that led the charge of recent Romanian cinema.Running just a shade under ninety minutes, little goes to waste in Porumboiu's taut, lean but very patient film. The first half of the picture introduces us to the three men whose lives will on converge later on. First, there's Tiberiu Manescu (Ion Sapdaru), an alcoholic history teacher who, when he isn't being hen-pecked by his wife, is trying to manage the various debts he owes to people around town. Then there's Emanoil Piscoci (Mircea Andreescu), an elderly widower who has reluctantly agreed to play the neighborhood Santa Claus. Lastly, there's Virgil Jderescu (Teodor Corban), owner of a TV station with his own talk show, who is cheating on his wife, all while trying desperately to put together his next episode, which he wants to focus on the 16th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution that ousted Nicolae Ceausescu.Certainly, '12:08' doesn't shy away from the grim reality of its setting. Like many of his contemporaries, Porumboiu favors an often stationary camera and long takes, here the graying and faded dirty blue of the apartments, streets and buildings the drama takes place in are unadorned. The rather miserable rut all three lead characters have found their lives shuffled into, and the nearly surreal and absurd world in which they exist are given ample time as well, with '12:08' unhurriedly creating a rich texture in which to set up what becomes an assuming, bravura finale that is both hilariously deadpan and quietly poetic all at once.As the threads of the story are slowly drawn together, the final stretch of '12:08' takes place entirely during the broadcast of Jderescu's rather amateur talk show, where both Manescu and Piscoci have been rounded up as guests. The topic? Was there or wasn't there a revolution on December 22, 1989. The point of contention for Jderescu is whether the Romanian Revolution can truly be called that, if the population only rushed out into the streets after Ceausescu was deposed. It seems like a measure of semantics, and an almost moot point to be dwelling on—and it kind of is—but Porumboiu uses that launching pad and these characters to dive into the complexity, beauty and complications of social and political change. 12:08 East Of BucharestEven as Jderescu's supposedly serious discussion takes place on camera, Porumboiu quickly makes it clear that it's an argument without substance. With a malfunctioning tripod, operated by a cameraman utilizing crude zooms and cuts, almost every moment of the film's final section —presented as a "live" TV broadcast—finds Jderescu's insistence at trying to get to the "truth" behind his question regarding the revolution belittled. But the sharp writing by Porumboiu, and the wonderfully underplayed performances of all three eventually find a more potent conclusion emerging that's left to linger about the in-the-moment purity of new ideas and shifts in power that wind up being soiled by the day-to-day reality of living and making ends meet.Filled with imagery both moving and mordant (a sequence of a Romanian big band ripping through a Latino song is fantastic), "12:08 East Of Bucharest" doesn't pretend to have a position on the fallout of the Romanian Revolution. Instead it contends that different questions need to be asked and considered about post-Communist life, about the blame about the current state of the country, and where the future lies for Romania's youth.

Romanian films are certainly where it's at. The past 5 years have thrown up simple yet engaging works unmatched by the majority of the world. They have the ability to comment on Romanian society, with a sense of dark humour and without being too preachy. 12:08 East from Bucharest tells of a small town and whether or not it had anything to do with the 1989 revolution. The film sets up it's three protagonists and the world they live in. It manages to use the small town setting to it's advantage as we get a lot of back-story through the townsfolk recollections of each other. Over half the film is a TV broadcast, making it almost static, given humorous life by an incompetent cameraman and his less than adequate tripods. Luckily the dialogue, bickering and mystery is enough to keep the audience fully entertained. It's amazing how brilliantly scripted dialogue can be more enthralling than car chases, explosions and slapstick. The cinematography is also beautiful, with an exceptional silent climax as the streetlights come alive at dusk.

Porumboiu's film is extremely funny (in a very Romanian way), and it's also very realistic. It's like I know all those crazy characters... The old man saying "It was better in the communist regime", most of the people calling just because they can and not because they have something important to say... I was very fond of the history teacher and I kept hoping that someone would call to rehabilitate him... I felt like they were stealing the most important moment of his life, his minutes of glory. He didn't have any witnesses to his presence there. And you know what happens: people with common sense, even alcoholics, they don't think they should defend themselves for something they did... and he said simply that he was there. his only friend, the Chinese shop-owner, tried to defend him, but was rejected by the rich guy, in a very prejudiced kind of way, that we see here so much... I found myself knowing that it was true... he was there before 12.08, and there was a revolution in that town, thanks to the four teachers. I guess everybody has to decide what he believes. I believe good people like Manescu never get a lucky break i this country, they are just considered suckers. And rich guys know how to manipulate people around them, like Bejan, the former secret service guy. (By the way, every member of the secret service said they were on holiday, just like Bejan). I hope Porumboiu makes us another good movie very soon!

It is a great way to deal with your own faults, if one can be the judge of that, when you deal it with humor. The more serious things appear to be, the funnier they can get... well... tragedy and comedy are always hand in hand with things in life anyway. So is this movie. You have to allow the movie a few minutes to get it going really, but, keep your eyes and ears open right from the start and it will make you want to watch it again, at least one more time it will. I was very little aware of Romanian history, and this is like a bonus gift, a treat you get for watching and being open to other cultures... I guess it helps you understand yourself better as well. I love the European sense of humor and this one does not escape the rules, and added with a little poetry, hahahaha... what a way to spend a nice weekend watching a nice movie like this one.