Louder Than Bombs

Rating:
Summary: Louder Than Bombs: A Polish Film
Review: "Louder Than Bombs" (2001) is a bit of an eerie movie. Giant smokestacks are in the background of many scenes, adding to the feel of the film. Throughout the film, everything looks a little dark and the fact that the film revolves around the funeral of Marcin's father is somewhat morbid. Marcin's girlfriend has just planned to move to the United States to study; so things just do not seem to go his way. I am not going to ruin the ending, but I liked it. Furthermore, the music throughout the film was very enjoyable.

The main character, Marcin, looked a little familiar to me, but I couldn't place him until I saw the credits at the end. Rafal Mackowiak looks much different in this film than he did in "Gniew" (or "Anger", 1997). But my trouble recognizing him was mostly due to the major differences between the characters played.

As this film is not rated, I will provide one here: In my view, this film is "Rated R" for nudity and occasional vulgar language. The film is 92 minutes long, spoken in Polish, and has non-removable English subtitles.

Rating:
Summary: Louder Than Bombs: A Polish Film
Review: "Louder Than Bombs" (2001) is a bit of an eerie movie. Giant smokestacks are in the background of many scenes, adding to the feel of the film. Throughout the film, everything looks a little dark and the fact that the film revolves around the funeral of Marcin's father is somewhat morbid. Marcin's girlfriend has just planned to move to the United States to study; so things just do not seem to go his way. I am not going to ruin the ending, but I liked it. Furthermore, the music throughout the film was very enjoyable.

The main character, Marcin, looked a little familiar to me, but I couldn't place him until I saw the credits at the end. Rafal Mackowiak looks much different in this film than he did in "Gniew" (or "Anger", 1997). But my trouble recognizing him was mostly due to the major differences between the characters played.

As this film is not rated, I will provide one here: In my view, this film is "Rated R" for nudity and occasional vulgar language. The film is 92 minutes long, spoken in Polish, and has non-removable English subtitles.

Rating:
Summary: Louder Than Bombs: A Polish Film
Review: "Louder Than Bombs" (2001) is a bit of an eerie movie. Giant smokestacks are in the background of many scenes, adding to the feel of the film. Throughout the film, everything looks a little dark and the fact that the film revolves around the funeral of Marcin's father is somewhat morbid. Marcin's girlfriend has just planned to move to the United States to study; so things just do not seem to go his way. I am not going to ruin the ending, but I liked it. Furthermore, the music throughout the film was very enjoyable.

The main character, Marcin, looked a little familiar to me, but I couldn't place him until I saw the credits at the end. Rafal Mackowiak looks much different in this film than he did in "Gniew" (or "Anger", 1997). But my trouble recognizing him was mostly due to the major differences between the characters played.

As this film is not rated, I will provide one here: In my view, this film is "Rated R" for nudity and occasional vulgar language. The film is 92 minutes long, spoken in Polish, and has non-removable English subtitles.

Rating:
Summary: Stupifyingly boring
Review: LOUDER THAN BOMBS won some sort of award several years back at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and I can't imagine why.

A young Pole, Marcin (Rafal Mackowiak), has just lost his father, whose funeral service and banquet he must now organize. Concurrently, he must cope with the declaration by his girlfriend, Kaska (Sylwia Juszczak), that she's relocating to Chicago, a move endorsed by her parents, especially her mother, who want her to get out of their dismal industrial town in southern Poland to find a better life and spousal prospect than Marcin, a school-dropout, auto mechanic. To the funeral come Kaska's parents and Marcin's aunt and uncle with their son Dzefrej (pronounced "Jeffrey", Krzysztof Czeczot) and his girlfriend Jagoda (Magdalena Schejbal).

The conflict in the plot is, of course, primarily between Marcin and Kaska. The former now faces being alone for the first time in his life - his mother died years before - and he's desperate for Kaska to stay and become his wife. Even if he persuades her, because they do love each other, they must then oppose her parents. In contrast, Jagoda has definitely fallen out of love with Dzefrej, and these two spend most their time together bickering with gusto.

I perceive so many things wrong with this film. While, there may be chemistry between Marcin and Kaska, they generated little with me. Even worse, Jagoda and Dzefrej are two of the most decidedly unlikable and obnoxious screen characters without actually being villains required by the storyline. The cinematography is of poor quality and unrelentingly somber, certainly not helped by the bleakness of the urban surroundings. (I would've gratefully given two stars had the production team used blossoming Warsaw or lovely Krakow as the locale.)

Trying too hard to find meaning in this film, I suggest that Marcin's new-found and uneasy independence might be a metaphor for Poland's release from Cold War Soviet domination, and, further, that his desire for a formalized relationship with Kaska might metaphorically represent the nation's desire for an alliance with the United States and NATO. In this age of political correctness, the Slamdance Film Festival was perhaps tossing the re-emerging Polish film industry a generous scrap of fraternal encouragement. But, please, to say anything positive about LOUDER THAN BOMBS verges on patronization. By the end of the DVD, I was facedown in my bowl of bigos, passed-out from sheer boredom.

Rating:
Summary: For lovers of Morrisey/The Smiths
Review: Very good little Polish film. Tells the story of a young man who loves Morrisey and James Dean and his girlfriend. His life spins out of control when his father dies and his girlfriend decides to move to Chicago to go to school. Lot's of dark comedy type humor between a young man deciding what to do with the rest of his life. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Rating:
Summary: For lovers of Morrisey/The Smiths
Review: Very good little Polish film. Tells the story of a young man who loves Morrisey and James Dean and his girlfriend. His life spins out of control when his father dies and his girlfriend decides to move to Chicago to go to school. Lot's of dark comedy type humor between a young man deciding what to do with the rest of his life. Thoroughly enjoyed it!