VIFF: 12:08 East of Bucharest

I always try and check out the Hungarian and Romanian films at the VIFF, since it's pretty much the only time I get a glimpse of "the homeland" outside of dinners with my extended family. So imagine my delight that this year there's a film about the Romanian Revolution. 12:08 East of Bucharest, which won Camera d'Or for best debut at Cannes, is hailed as the next big thing in the European New Wave and is full of bitingly funny deadpan humour. Um, no, sadly it isn't.

It does, however, raise an interesting question: if all the people take to the streets in their small town after the government falls, are they an active part of the revolution, or are they just reveling cowards? It asks this question over and over and over again. The entire movie is pretty much based on this one question. The answer, in my opinion, leans towards the reveling coward territory. Make that drunken reveling cowards. But really, who am I to judge? I've never had the opportunity to prove myself not to be a drunken reveling coward.

My first mistake was expecting a film made in Romania to describe or analyze the Revolution. Right, Romanians already know all about it, in fact, they're bored of the topic. Instead we get to watch a recreation of an entire daytime call-in TV show in real time. Granted, they do have a lot of jokes about alcohol and alcoholics and inflation and how nothing's changed since the revolution. But I expected more. I really wanted to see scenes from the revolution, interviews with people involved, personal accounts, that sort of thing. But no, this film has none of that, it feels more like a short than a feature film, even at 89 long minutes.

"It's snowing," a call-in viewer says near the end of the film "you better enjoy it now, tomorrow it'll all turn to mud." One of the best analogies I've ever heard about a revolution.