THE TREASURE (COMOARA) World Cinema

AFI FEST stalwart Corneliu Porumboiu (POLICE, ADJECTIVE) returns with his latest tale of present-day Romanians still in the grip of their country’s politically tumultuous history. In this utterly deadpan comedy, Adrian implores his neighbor, family man Costi, to join him on a search for valuable coins he believes his grandfather buried at his family’s country estate during World War II. Both men are financially struggling, and the get-rich-quick allure of the plan proves too tempting. However, the treasure hunt, envisioned as a Robin Hood-inspired adventure, gradually transforms into a mundane trek through a vast backyard, entirely dependent on the constant squawking of a cumbersome metal detector. Hours of digging, some meddling policemen and the ever-looming specter of Romania’s Communist past all guide Porumboiu’s masterfully controlled vision to a fascinating finale that has been compared to Frank Capra but contains more of a subversively critical bite. –Mike Dougherty