Playground

I. "There's no hope to be had in humanity, not even in children. I haven't been this torn apart, this disturbed, this uncomfortable since 'Irreversible' but at least I felt the soul and heartbreak behind that film, not the cold emptiness I feel now. A great film but I sincerely don't think I can rate it."

The above blurb is of my initial reaction to the latest transgressive Polish film "Plac Zabaw" (or "Playground" in English-speaking countries), which I wrote on Letterboxd upon exiting the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles. I'm tempted to leave it as such but after sitting on it for a month I think it's worth a try to "recommend" or, at least, talk about this film in the hopes that someone may see it (if you can, since it seems finding a copy of this film is near impossible at the moment).

II. Playground can be called many things: "Irreversible" meets "Kids", social commentary, even "awful garbage", which was said by the two other people with me in the theater as they walked out. One of them was in tears. A testament to the film's power I think lies in the fact that it is able to draw such a reaction. Mind you, this is no "I Spit on Your Grave" trying to make money out of its shock appeal. At least, I don't think it is. Truth be told, a month has passed and I'm still on the fence over whether this film is art or exploitation. It is filled with both subtle and gratuitous violence, mostly unmotivated, wholly unexplained. There is something to be said about the three children it follows and their distinct class divisions. There is something to be said about the cruelty of childhood. There is something to be said about Polish youth today (recalling the right-wing youth protests in Poland last year). There is something to be said about poverty, media, humanity... but what does it all mean? These, I think, are crucial topics - not whether the film is violent, despicable, exploitative or this and that - whose conclusions viewers should reach themselves.

III. To briefly touch on the technical side, the film is certainly beautifully shot and uniquely structured and edited, making for a fine piece of European arthouse cinema. It is also riddled with symbolism and moments of quiet surrealism, in particular a fly which, not without purpose, found its way to the film's cover poster (I wonder what that could mean?).

IV. One final note, I remember reading a little review of "Playground" that said: "You don't have to acquiesce to this kind of filmmaking. 'Oh but you're angry! It succeeded!' Cool, so rush hour traffic is now cinema. Good to know." My response to this is (1) it's impossible to equate the shock and anger this movie generates to the trivial and solvable frustration of rush hour traffic and (2) they are absolutely, no one needs to acquiesce to this kind of filmmaking, the right is yours, but those who choose to do so may indeed find a truly rewarding experience.

This film by a young Polish director, continues the great releases from this country over the last few years. I could mention a few titles that have been released but wont as it will take up too much space here. Polish cinema is going through a golden age, but I fear that the world has not woken up to it, and it is basically unknown except to certain cinema professionals. In this film two boys have problems at home relating to home-care that has been forcibly placed on them. One has to care for his invalid father and the other has to sleep in the same room with his crying infant brother. These boys of around 12 years of age, later mentally torture a female classmate who has an infatuation with one of them. In the last chapter something extraordinary happens that would be distressing to all viewers. Be warned. As for the making of this film, the visuals (very raw, showing the ugliness of Poland town life), the connections with chapter headings, the tension, acting, narrative, plot, etc. make it a gem of a film, and one that you will never forget. I've taken one star off for the not so clear dialogue by the young boys and for the disturbing theme. Therefore a nine.

Here's another rambling, mess of a review.

I've seen every disturbing movie that exists except for two famous/infamous films that we all know. With that qualification, this movie is at least in my top ten sick-to-my-stomach films I've ever seen.

I like to go into movies knowing as little as possible about them. I watched this movie based on a one or two sentence description. It could have been a short film for all I knew (no duration was listed). Imagine my surprise at what I found. It was the perfect storm. I suppose I'm lucky. Since I watch films hoping to actually feel something, I won the lottery. I can only hope that some of you view this movie as I did, with no preconceptions or ideas of what to expect. After everything that we have seen, this is what many people search for; this feeling of being utterly stunned.

At this moment, there are four reviews. Against all IMDb odds, all four are accurate, valid, and, for the most part, spoiler-free. This film is art. How many filmmakers would love to be able to make the audience feel as terrible as I feel after watching this movie? I'm sure most horror movies try, but how many are successful? You can't just show crazy violence and expect this reaction. Some might portray some graphic or gruesome act that might make you look away or cringe, but not the gut-punch of this movie.

Well done, movie making people.

Well, were do I even begin...

For starters, yes, the film becomes quite disturbing in the end, but the build up before the disturbing part is very slow and kinda goes nowhere. I guess the point of 3/4 of the film was to introduce us the kids, to show that they are basically usual children, doing children's stuff while being cruel at times. That's the whole premise of the 'Playground' as I see it - sometimes (seemingly) perfectly normal kids can do awful things. And they do, sadly.

The very slow build up is actually fine with me. I haven't seen a lot of Polish films, let alone the modern ones, so it was interesting to see how fellow Eastern Europeans live. The cinematography is just competent, but that's good enough and acting is surprisingly good, especially for such young kids. Basically there's 3 main characters: Gabrysia - a girl from a wealthy family, an exemplary student, yet a bit social awkward, Szymek - a boy from a somewhat poorer family, popular in school and Czarek - a boy from a lower-class family. We follow them throughout the day, witnessing them doing daily routine and having anger issues, and then the climax happens. Or what seems to be a climax at first. Then the film pulls out a twist and hits you on your head with the real one. Hope it doesn't count as a spoiler.

I like how the final scene was shot: you witness the events through surveillance cameras or from a distance. You already suspect what's about to happen, you don't want it to happen, yet feel all the more helpless, observing it from afar. The final minutes will most likely make you shudder, and it's really a testament how you don't have to go full gore to invoke strong repulsive emotions.

At the end, it would have made for a great short film: in this current form it might be a tad too sluggish. The plot twist feels kinda cheap, and the finale sort of rolls out of nowhere, but maybe it was the whole point. The violence for no reason feels all the more terrifying, especially done by children. 'Plac Zabaw' is not perfect, but worth your time if you're interested in Eastern European cinema or you from the 'disturbing movies' crowd, even though it's not the most disturbing flick by far.

Horrific doesn't even come close.

I went in not knowing what to expect and from all descriptions and synopses I read, there was no indication of the brutality I was in for.

This thing starts innocently enough, but trust me, it is the farthest thing from innocent on the planet.

Worth a watch? I don't know. It wasn't hard to sit through the first hour, but after that things went sideways very quickly and the last 20 minutes was possibly the toughest piece of film I've ever sat through.

As another reviewer put it, I'm glad I had the opportunity to watch it, but I'll never ever watch it again. Chilling.