12:08 East of Bucharest (2006)

A local talk show host organizes an alcoholic professor and a pensioner known for playing Santa Claus to decide whether there was ever a revolution in their town Vaslui.

Director:

Corneliu Porumboiu

Writer:

Corneliu Porumboiu

Stars:

Mircea Andreescu, Teodor Corban, Ion Sapdaru

12 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mircea Andreescu	...	Emanoil Piscoci
Teodor Corban	...	Virgil Jderescu
Ion Sapdaru	...	Tiberiu Manescu
Mirela Cioaba	...	Doamna Manescu
Luminita Gheorghiu	...	Doamna Jderescu
Cristina Ciofu	...	Vali
Lucian Iftime	...	Lica
Annemarie Chertic	...	Vera
Petrica Sapdaru	...	Petrica
Catalin Paraschiv	...	Barman
George Guoqingyun	...	Chen
Constantin Dita	...	Tibi
Daniel Badale	...	Professor
Marius Rogojinski	...	Vecin (as Marius Rogojinschi)
Aurelia Tocu	...	Maricica Dima (voice)

Storyline

It's the 22nd of December. Sixteen years have passed since the revolution, and in a small town Christmas is about to come. Piscoci, an old retired man is preparing for another Christmas alone. Manescu, the history teacher, tries to keep up with his debts. Jderescu, the owner of a local television post, seems not to be so interested in the upcoming holidays. For him, the time to face history has come. Along with Manescu and Piscoci, he is trying to answer for himself a question which for 16 years has not had an answer: "Was it or wasn't it a revolution in their town?"

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Plot Keywords:

revolution | teacher | debt | question mark in title | question in title | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Romania

Language:

Romanian

Release Date:

29 September 2006 (Romania)

Also Known As:

12:08 East of Bucharest

Filming Locations:

Romania

Box Office

Budget:

€200,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,586, 10 June 2007, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$88,066, 26 August 2007

Company Credits

Production Co:

42 Km Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When a woman and her daughter visit old man Piscoci and ask him to be Santa Claus, the boom mic bobs in and out of the frame at the top of the screen multiple times throughout the shot.

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Connections

Referenced in Vedro: Family Tree (2017)

User Reviews

Wonderfully quirky East-European production

A wonderfully quirky movie, rooted in the deep inner conflict experienced by many people who have to re-conciliate their Communist-era mentalities with(in) a post-Communist society.

Most Romanians (and East-Europeans alike) will understand it very well, since many clichés are present here: the vain, non-professional media, the desolate streets, the people without perspectives or hope, the arrogant new-rich former secret service people, the successful immigrants coming from even lesser parts of the world... all grafted on top of a nagging general feeling of guilt and shame, emanating from the sheep-like population.

Let's face it: the real (and only) Romanian heroes of 1989, "before 12:08 on December 22", were the several thousands of mostly young folks who defied the authorities in the streets of Timisoara and Bucharest... the rest of the country just watched and waited, much like the viewers of Jderescu's "talk show".

PS. - To the pretentious prig from Denmark: I think you were supposed to post your "art cinema" commentary under the latest creation of your much-ballyhooed co-national, Lars von Trier, "Direktøren for det hele" (2006). Your comments fit that film to a "T"!!!

If you have absolutely no idea what Porumboiu's minimalistic film is all about, and no respect or understanding for another culture, I think you should refrain from posting. Sadly, your inane text was at some point featured on the main page for this Romanian film, even though you - thankfully! - represent an insignificant minority of malcontents.