100
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
A heartbreakingly powerful masterpiece.
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Moartea domnului Lăzărescu)
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Romania
- 2005
- · 150m
Director
Cristi Puiu
Cast
Ioan Fiscuteanu,
Luminița Gheorghiu,
Doru Ana,
Monica Bârlădeanu,
Alina Berzunțeanu,
Alexandru Potocean
Genre
Comedy,
Drama
Mr. Lazarescu, a retired Romanian engineer, enjoys spending his time with his cats and a good drink. When he starts to feel ill, he searches for painkillers in his neighborhood. As his illness progresses, Mr. Lazarescu finds himself in an ambulance with a chatty nurse with thoughts about what is making him ill.
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What are critics saying?
100
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
Both sad and darkly funny, the film is so sharply conceived and richly populated that it often registers like a Frederick Wiseman documentary, even though everything is scripted and every part played by a professional... This is only the second feature of Cristi Puiu, who claims to have been inspired by his own hypochondria, but he's already clearly a master.
100
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Mr. Lazarescu is that rich and riveting a film of universal small human moments and big-system failure.
91
The A.V. Club by Noel Murray
An intoxicating performance piece in which skilled actors pinball off each other with such energy and nuance that the audience almost forgets about the dying man on the edge of the frame. The style alone makes the movie's point.
90
Variety by Jay Weissberg
Picture's dour take on the dehumanizing process of medical treatment is leavened by black humor and dialogue that always rings true.
90
Salon by Andrew O'Hehir
Almost as exhilarating as it is depressing. Puiu's filmmaking technique is remarkable, and all the more so because it's almost invisible.
90
Village Voice by J. Hoberman
An explicit ode to mortality, not without a certain grim humor.
90
Variety
Picture's dour take on the dehumanizing process of medical treatment is leavened by black humor and dialogue that always rings true.
80
The New Yorker by David Denby
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, for all its terrible matter-of-factness, produces tumultuous feelings of amazement and revolt.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Duane Byrge
In this deep probe into modern-day medicine, the old guy is shuttled from hospital to hospital in a surreal, horrifying ordeal of errors, missed diagnoses and institutional malaise. At two hours and 34 minutes, we, seemingly, also endure his agony -- part of this Romanian film's power and, also, its Achilles heel.
70
Film Threat by Phil Hall
Do not, under any circumstance, approach this film lightly. Prepare to be depressed, agitated and shocked. And prepare to see a brilliant work of cinematic art.
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