Monday, August 07, 2006

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

The film festival programme described this film as "mesmerising, suspenseful, darkly funny, shrewdly humane and spiritually challenging" which was enough to convince me to go. Now I'm wondering if the reviewer and I went to the same film.

Mr Lazarescu develops stomach pains and phones for an ambulance - and it takes forever for one to come. He sees lots of doctors, is treated with contempt and indifference. gets shuffled between hospitals and eventually dies waiting for an operation. The film could be retitled "The last day in the life of Mr Lazarescu" as the action takes place in a period of less than twenty-four hours. It feels painfully like real time - one hundred and fifty three minutes was way too long, and it was tedious and dull as time spent in a hospital is. It may have been meant to be insightful and stimulating but it was mostly plain depressing.


Anne's Rating: 2/5

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