POISON SCOOTER

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

What a strange and oddly moving film this turned out to be. First of all, it was made in Bucharest, not exactly the Mecca of foreign cinema and the cinematography portrays every location as if it reeks of piss. Gritty. The realism doesn't stop with the visuals. No, we are dragged into the health care system of this dark, dank city in real time as we slowly watch Mr. Lazarescu get bounced from hospital to hospital as he slowly suffers from the effects of a hematoma in his head and liver problems caused by alcoholism.

The film's running time is 2 and 1/2 hours, but feels like 7 hours. And that normally would rub me the wrong way, but here was rather engrossing. Scenes unfolded so horribly slow that you can helped but be riveted and forced to digest what is happening. The doctors are either incompetent, disinterested or just plain assholes. In fact, even Mr. Lazarescu is a bit of a prick. Everyone is kind of unsavory come to think of it. But again, this works to make this film feel like it's a documentary rather than actors working from a script. Truly fascinating.

I'm probably not doing this film justice with this review, but if you read just the highlights here on metacritic.com you will see that it was revered as one of the best films of 2006. I'm not certain that I would give it that kind of status, but it does make me think about what we spend our money on making here in the US. Epic Movie?

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is a simple movie that is made for barely nothing in a country that hardly matters to America. It's a scathing indictment on a collapsing health care system doesn't provide many belly laughs but stings us with it's very dark humor, and in my opinion is what filmmakers should be striving to make here in the US. Furthermore, movies like this need to be seen by the public. Quit paying $35 on a Friday night to see an unnecessary remake of The Hitcher.

posted by Scooter @ 5:39 PM