The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, 12:08 East of Bucharest, and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days all advance the notion that time is of the essence in Romania. Set in 1987, two years before the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu, Cristian Mungiu's Palm d'Or winner has the urgency of a ticking bomb. Like Death of Mr. Lazarescu, the snarl of red tape sticks to everything in the film, but the tone here is less sarcastic, though the cumulative effect of the film's long shots—triumphs of concentrated minutiae and havocked performance—are every bit as haunting. Luminita Gheorghiu, who appears in the film in a small role, passes the humanist baton of Death of Mr. Lazarescu to Anamaria Marinca, who transforms the desperate struggle of her character, a college girl trying to help her roommate secure an abortion, into a stirring expression of female solidarity and empathy.