♥♥♥♥♥♥
+ 2nd Best Movie of the Year
+ Best Romanian Movie of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year + Best Huge Flop of the Year + Best Societal Critique of the Year + Best Feel-Bad Movie of the Year + Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year
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| Film festival, critical praise and underscoring the comedy aspect are a major part of this protagonist-missing poster for Cristi Puiu's The Death of Mr. Lazarescu |
An aging gentleman who lives alone decides late one evening to finally react to his body's increasing ailments. In the course of the following hours he is transported around between several worthless hospitals full of hostile, lazy and/or downright inhumane staffs.
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is written by Razvan Radalescu (The Paper Will Be Blue/Hîrtia Va fi Albastrã (2006)) and Romanian master co-writer/director Cristi Puiu (Stuff and Dough/Marfa si Banii (2001)), whose second feature it is. It is a demonstratively uncinematic social realism drama, which some have hiked up to be a pitch black comedy, which I couldn't really find in it.
It is a really grim and in a way awful film, because of its theme which is dying an ugly death in a veritable sea of negligence and incompetence. It presents this wholly valid story with almost unheard of consequence and so raises it with formidable authority.
Related post:
2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Cost: 350k €, approximately 392k $
Box office: In excess of 216k $
= Some uncertainty, but indubitably a huge flop (returned at least 0.55 times its cost)
[The Death of Mr. Lazarescu premiered 17 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 153 minutes. The script was inspired by Puiu's hypochondria and a real-life death case from Romania in 1997. Funding came through due to direct contact with Romania's minister of culture, as Puiu was denied funding from the nation's film council. Filming took place in Romania, including Bucharest, from November - December 2004. The film opened #93 to a 5k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it peaked at #68 and in 3 theaters (different weeks), grossing 80k $ (37 % of the total gross). The film's apparently biggest market was the UK with 86k $ (39.8 %), - but its Box Office Mojo sheet is missing its gross from several markets, including home market Romania, where it sold 28k tickets, becoming the year's most successful Romanian film domestically of the year: Depending on ticket prices, this would likely make Romania the film's biggest market in reality, and boost the box office past 360k $ (which wouldn't change the huge flop status though.) It won the Un Certain Regard prize in Cannes and was nominated for 2 European Film awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Puiu returned with Offset (2006). Ion Fiscuteanu (Iacob (1988)), who plays mr. Lazarescu, ended his acting career with the performance and passed away from cancer in 2007. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.99/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu?
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