Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

If you’re after shoot-outs , stand-offs, suspects being done over in dank cells – look elsewhere.

Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu’s film may be just about the least dramatic policier ever made.

Most of the plot-lite time, we see a glum plain-clothes cop (Dragos Bucur) following someone on foot through drab streets, or standing on a corner watching a house.

The big climax involves three men in an office consulting a dictionary.

Sounds stultifyingly dull? Amazingly, it’s not – the insidious humour and fascination with moral quandaries keep it consistently engrossing