Secrets, mensonges et ... mariage

I've just seen this movie. Polish Wedding was widely discussed in the Polish media and was regarded very controversial because of the way it described Polish society in America. I have some thoughts about it: 1. Movie misses a plot. It consists of several scenes that loosely linked. 2. Writer seems to have very faint knowledge about Polish culture and Poles. Poles don't eat pierogis every day on every meal :-) They don't smoke more than other nationalities. Music seemed to be rather Balkan. There are many Polish names but I don't recognize many Polish features and it completely misses Polish family atmosphere. 3. People kneeling before Hala crowned with garland. What was that? Does Teresa Conelly think that Poles recognized in her Virgin Mary? It's totally stupid scene.

I have recently spent ninety of the most painful minutes of my movie-viewing life watching a film called "Polish Wedding". Apparently, this film was supposed to be one of those warm-heated slice of life tales about a colorful ethnic family living and kvetching in big city USA. Detroit, from the looks of the place, but I can't be sure. Plotless, pointless, and ultimately offensive, this film is a disaster. The first ominous sign is the opening credits. No one in the cast and crew seemed to be remotely Polish. This movie features a Swede (Lena Olin, doing a bad Natasha Fatale accent) an Irishman (Gabriel Byrne,even worse) and a sickly-sweet all-American girl (Claire Danes, who should be barred from doing movies forever). Having lived in Chicago for several years, and having married a second generation Polish girl, I can honestly say that the characters in this film resemble no Poles that I have ever met. The "Poles" in this movie are the same lazy, drunken, selfish louts that idiot writers have variously identified as Irish, Greek,Italian, Jewish, Spanish, and other ethnic groups in the past five or six decades. I guess it was the Poles turn now. I don't think it's malicious, I think it's just laziness.

But it's a real pity. The Poles have a rich culture that is worth making a good movie out of. I have to go now. My normally lovely, sweet-tempered wife is screaming obscenities and threatening to throw the TV out the window.

Polish Wedding is an amatuerish effort. Whereas a film like 'In the Company of Men" succeeds through an innovative idea, strong acting performances and passionate filmmaking, Polish Wedding has none of this.

Claire Danes is wonderful on-screen, yet miscast in most every film she's played. Gabriel Byrne continues a succession of non-descript performances in non-descript films. Good idea dressing up Lena Olin as a janitor, cleaning toilets in full makeup.

There's a nice screaming baby sequence in the 1st ten minutes that will drive you away quicker than the poorly used musical score.

Pass. Big time.

Polish Wedding was a film that was not quite popular, but I wanted to see it to make my own assumptions. Sadly I was quite disappointed in most aspects of this film. The story is supposed to be about a blue -collar Polish family in Detroit whose members are all struggling with their love and hatred for each other. The mother played by Lena Olin, is self obsessed - caring only for her control of her children and love affair. The father is a tired baker, who sees the holes in his family but is reluctant to face them. Claire Danes plays their 'free spirit' of a daughter, who wanders alleyways at night with strange boys and ends up pregnant. The film technique and art direction is a contrasting mix of urban ugliness and natural beauty. There are some notably beautiful scenes for which I must give some credit. Aside from this one point of merit, the rest of the film falls short of what I expected. First of all, the characters are really unrealistic. Being part Polish, I found the accents to be contrived and the whole feel of the family to be unfamiliar. The characters were interesting at first, but due to lack of development, become increasingly boring as time goes on. I tried, with great effort, to see where the title becomes relevant in this film, but there is no hint of a wedding in this film - Dane's character just waltzes to the boys house in a wedding gown - actually convinced she will get married ???? I think this film might have been a real jewel if the story had moved a little more quickly and if the characters had not been so flat and un-dynamic. Anyone with a hint of Polish in their blood might even find this film more offensive that self-relevant. It casts a bad picture onto a people with a far more interesting family tradition than is seen in this artificial construction.

I suppose, a comedy. And few nice intentions. And good actors. And that is all. The basic sin, it can be, in extremis , a portrait of an Italian family. But not a Polish one. The cliches are awful and ridiculous. For each Polish person, it represents an injury. Sure, good intentions and few not so bad scenes. But not enough for be more than a bad parody. The regret - a so cast deserves a better script.