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*A 2006 U.S. Release* 



The first of six Rohmers "Moral Tales"-inspired stories from the suburbs of Bucharest, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Moartea Domnului Lazarescu) is a riveting and awe-inspiringly realistic effort from Romanian director Cristi Puiu (Stuff and Dough [2001]). 

The film accounts the final travails of Dante Remus Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu), a nearly-63-year-old drunken widower who lives alone in a squalid, cat-infested apartment. A former engineer who once went under the knife due to a stomach ulcer, Lazarescu calls for an ambulance early on in the film after experiencing head and stomach aches. After a third call, made by his cautiously accommodating neighbor, help finally arrives in the shape of a caring middle-aged nurse, Mioara (Luminita Gheorghiu), who eventually ends up taking the grumpy-old-man with her for further diagnosis. 

Shot hand-held, cinma-vrit style, the film continually grows in immediacy as -- for the next few hours -- a worsening Mr. Lazarescu is shuttled from one hospital to another due to a variety of contributing factors, such as his temper and personal hygiene, disagreeable and over-worked medical personnel, a deadly bus accident causing havoc in emergency facilities, etc. (In some ways, this film is a reflection of the fact that in the 15 years since the end of Nicolae Ceausescu's brutal rgime, Romania hasn't made much progress on the socio-economic front.)

While the subject matter was ripe for it, the film never develops into an early-Haneke-esque excoriation of humanity; instead, with its vivid and complex individual portrayals, it becomes a palpably honest representation of it. Indeed, no matter how absurd certain situations threaten to become (thats where the film draws most of its black humor from), Puius tone thoroughly and efficiently remains grounded in realism. (The film certainly brings to mind the work of Frederick Wiseman, even though it features actors who mouth scripted lines of dialogue. While the presence of Cassavetes, Puius favorite filmmaker, is felt via the director's formal apparatus.)

By underplaying the push-pull dynamics of human emotions, Puiu tries to get to something deeper and more important: mortality. And as if the viewers didnt already have enough to mull over, Puiu adds another layer to the film in the form of allegorical character names -- Dante, Virgil, Beatrice, etc. -- though, like the rest of the proceedings, theyre rendered without exclamation points. But that won't stop me: The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is one of the best films of the year.

Grade: A-
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*The film premiered at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard). 

*Now available on DVD in the U.S. (Tartan). Extra Features include an informative interview with the filmmaker. Tartan's U.K. DVD will be released on October 23rd.