Police, Adjective–a film poignant in its simplistic depiction of human emotion–is the story of a man’s internal struggle with conscience.  Assigned to trail a teenager suspected of dealing drugs, young police officer Cristi (Dragos Bucur) is plagued by an unsettling instinct that he will regret ruining the teen’s life in the name of honoring a law that he believes will change in the near future.

The film is slow-paced, subtle, and uniquely dry in its humor. Void of any musical soundtrack–save a moment when Cristi and his wife debate the merit of a love song she’s listening to–the film leaves itself open to the viewer’s interpretation of Cristi’s dilemma. That said, his emotional turmoil–from the drug case, in particular, but also from his relationship (or lack thereof) with his wife and his own existential tug of war–is visceral and the acting effective.

Warning! Spoiler after the jump!

In the end, law trumps personal instinct when Cristi is painstakingly instructed by his supervisor to cite definitions of the terms in question–conscience, law, moral law, and police–leaving viewers to ponder their own definitions of right and wrong, and where those fit into the larger social fabric.

TakePart cinephile Gina Telaroli reviewed Police, Adjective in her coverage of the New York Film Festival.  To see her coverage, go here.