This film is currently unavailable

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Cristi Puiu's multiple award-winning drama about a seriously ill man caught in an absurdist bureaucratic nightmare over the course of one night.
Director: Cristi Puiu
Overview
Cristi Puiu's multiple award-winning second feature blazed a trail from its rapturously received Cannes premiere in 2005, kickstarting a new wave of piercing Romanian cinema. Mr Lazarescu is a 63-year-old widower who shares his apartment with his three cats. Suffering from pains in his head and his stomach, he calls for an ambulance, and whilst he's waiting he asks his neighbours for some pills. They try to help, though they disapprove of his drinking and the state of his flat. Finally the medics arrive to take him to hospital, an even more difficult task than usual as a bus accident has the local services at full stretch. As the night wears on, Mr Lazarescu is shuttled from pillar to post, growing ever wearier and weaker in the face of the medical profession's bureaucracy and casual inefficiency.
With colourful and recognisable characters uttering wonderful turns of phrase, the fundamental seriousness of the film's theme is judiciously leavened with a good deal of dry humour (Puiu claims to be something of a hypochondriac himself, and he and co-writer Razvan Radalescu certainly seem to have an insider's knowledge of the medical world). The film's mastery of cinema and deep seated humanity have already prompted comparisons with everyone from Cassavetes to Mike Leigh and Frederick Wiseman, but Puiu is very much his own man, and his film is unmissable.
Related

Of Horses and Men Of Horses and Men
Drama 2013 81 mins Director: Benedikt Erlingsson
Human romance and a passion for horses intertwine in this wildly beautiful, darkly funny equine tale from Iceland.

The People vs. Larry Flynt The People vs. Larry Flynt
Biopic 1996 130 mins Director: Milos Forman
Milos Forman’s provocative biopic starring Woody Harrelson as a notorious pornographer turned unlikely hero and champion of free speech.

Hundreds of Beavers Hundreds of Beavers
Comedy 2024 109 mins Director: Mike Cheslik
Stranded in a surreal winter landscape, a drunken applejack salesman must become North America's greatest fur trapper in Mike Cheslik’s gloriously anarchic slapstick comedy.

Alma's Rainbow Alma's Rainbow
Comedy 1993 89 mins Director: Ayoka Chenzira
Ayoka Chenzira’s vital coming-of-age comedy about three Black women living in Brooklyn learning to embrace life and exercise their agency.

The Balconettes The Balconettes
Comedy 2024 104 mins Director: Noémie Merlant
Co-written with Céline Sciamma, Noémie Merlant’s bold film follows three friends as they dispose of the body of an abuser they’ve accidentally killed.

Barking Dogs Never Bite Barking Dogs Never Bite
Comedy 2000 111 mins Director: Bong Joon Ho
A professor takes drastic action to silence a barking dog in this superb debut feature from Bong Joon Ho, the Oscar-winning director of Parasite.

Following Following
Drama 1999 67 mins Director: Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan’s gritty neo-noir first feature about a young London writer who gets drawn into a criminal underworld.

Student Services Student Services
Drama 2010 103 mins Director: Emmanuelle Bercot
A cash-strapped student becomes an escort exposing the stark realities of economic exploitation in this uncompromising gritty French drama.

Insomnia Insomnia
Thriller 2002 118 mins Director: Christopher Nolan
Al Pacino shines in Christopher Nolan’s smart psychological thriller about a weary detective chasing a murder suspect in remote Alaska.

The Long Walk The Long Walk
Horror 2019 116 mins Director: Mattie Do
An old Laotian farmer, haunted by past trauma, encounters a ghost who transports him back in time, in Mattie Do’s evocative genre-bending film.

Treading Water Treading Water
Drama 2024 122 mins Director: Gino Evans
A brutal, fascinating portrait of the realities of addiction and mental health issues, set against the backdrop of the iconic Manchester skyline.

I Am Curious - Yellow I Am Curious - Yellow
Drama 1967 117 mins Director: Vilgot Sjöman
Vilgot Sjoman's controversial classic following one woman's exploration of national identity and her own sexuality in 1960s Sweden.