DVD mini review - 12:08 East of Bucharest

12:08 East of Bucharest main focus is a television panel program about the 1989 overthrow of the Ceausecu regime in Romania. The story takes place sixteen years after the revolution. There are three main characters in the film - Emanoil Poiscoci (Mircea Andreescu) - an elderly man who plays Santa Claus around Christmas time; Virgil Jderescu (Teodor Corban) - the host/producer of the show; and Tiberiu Monescu (Ion Sapdaru)- a drunken professor. These three men are the participants on the show .

Before we get to the program - which is the last part of the film - we get to know these three men and have a feel for what they are about. The story takes place in a small town outside of Bucharest. The program is trying to determine whether or not the revolution actually took place in this town. What we find out is that no one actually knows.

Writer/director Corneliu Porumboiu uses a great deal of wit in telling his tale. I liked this film but it doesn't have the depth of another Romanian film, The Death of Mr. Lazerescu. But if you are a fan of world cinema (as I am) then this film is worth a look.