I left Poland as a seven year old girl in 1981.. no, hang on - first of all, Why is there a man defecating in this film? For all of the intellectual things I have loved about films from the 'homeland', nothing has ever sunk into the realm of BFR (bodily function reduction) without trying to be an educational film on the digestive tract. This screened at the Vancouver Film Festival three days ago and I made the voyage to the theatre feeling stoic and anticipating something momentous... after all, reverence and sentiment is something that runs amongst all of the Poles I know and no, wait - why is there a blisteringly heavy-handed metaphor that includes people playing tug-o-war with the Polish flag, it ripping and (I can't believe they stooped this cliche) BLOOD, yes blood spatters out from where it tears???? Help.. am I too young to appreciate an aging poet's neurotic excretions? I wondered the same thing when I started watching Bridges over Madison County.. will I be able to relate to a mature, ripe and slower-paced perspective on life? In the case of Bridges, I was lured by the universally binding theme of love, kinship and romance, however removed it was from mine. In WACKO, not only did I have a hard time believing the protagonist but all of the supporting characters were caricature cut-outs of things you see in 80s sitcoms in North America: the venomous (and nothing else) x-wife, the apathetic (and disinterested and nothing else) young son, the students who are defined by their flatulence and interest in bodily injuries of their professor. I have to claim philanthropy for every character, not just the women because they are so one-dimensional and the protagonist is simply... boring. None of the details which are supposed to be quaint (his measuring coffee JUST so) resonate because there is so much repetition that you just want to tear your hair out waiting for the director to get to the point. By mid-way through the film, I have to admit to my beloved boyfriend (Zagreb born, UK raised) that this film has none of the imagination nor raw honesty of films like JAK DALEKO Z TAD, JAK BLISKO nor INTERROGATION because it's attempting to do something it considers to be "NEW" (ie. Poles are not historically about going on about mastrubation, crapping, suicide) ... I felt the same as when I went to a theatre in SZCZECIN a couple of summers ago and they did "Natural Born Killers" the stage version. Totally disappointing and unimaginative... I hope that the next thing to hit the circuit does not go where this film dragged the audience through.
Review of Day of the Wacko
