Police, Adjective (2009, Romanian)

Police, Adjective follows detective Cristi (Dragos Bucur) as he tails three suspects in a drugs case over the course of several days. And that's pretty much it - Christi tails. He waits, half hidden behind structures, he smokes cigarettes, and occasionally he winds his way through the maddening bureaucracy of his police precinct, trying to dig up more evidence in his case. One small detail - the suspects Cristi is tailing are approximately thirteen years old, and the crime they're suspected of is dealing, or perhaps just smoking, small amounts of hash. And as Cristi wrestles with the impossibilities of police work in post-Communist Romania, he also has his conscience (remember that word - know what it means?) to wrestle with, all of which feeds into the penultimate scene, an incredible feat of understated filmmaking, wherein Cristi has to face both his internal conflicts and those that pressure him from outside. It's ridiculously dry, but with a little patience, surprisingly hilarious - especially once the dictionary comes out (please note title).