1st watched 1/23/2010 – 7 out of 10 (Dir-Corneliu Poromboiu): Funny and meaningful Romanian film about a few people in a small town east of Bucharest trying to recall the events of December 22nd, 1989 – the day Romania won a revolution against Communist control. This movie is wonderful more because of what it doesn't say then for what it does. A local talk show host invites some local folks to join him to talk about this day and whether there was a physical revolution in their town before the government was ousted at 12:08 PM. The movie starts as he's trying to gather his guests and we're introduced to the three principal characters in the story. One, a drunk school teacher – another an old man who occasionally dresses as Santa Claus for the local kids and of course, the host. They arrive together and the debate begins between the teacher, the callers and the host about his presence in the town square before the allotted time when the takeover occurred. He insists he was involved in a local revolution but all the callers debunk his recallings. The old man, doesn't have much to give, he's just there to express there was a gathering after 12:08 PM. The host, believes in the significance of this local revolution, but all in all there isn't much of one, really. It happened and that's really all that matters and there was change --- hence this is the point of the film. A quietly funny gem that let's you have time to think as well while viewing --which is definitely rare (especially in American films).
Review of 12:08 East of Bucharest
