Rozbijemy zabawe...

It's a small tale about a group of young thugs who aren't invited to a school costume party so they decide to invite themselves and beat up everyone.

I found it interesting mostly for its historical value just to see how a school dance looked like in the 50's Poland. The dance scenes are boring and the fight scenes unconvincing, but both are filmed competently, especially considering that they happen at night and Polanski was still a student. The soundtrack of the fight was quite badly dubbed, however, creating some unintentional chuckles. This short also further reinforced my opinion that Polanski has an obsession with violence.

The party was real and the thugs were real, hired by the young director for this movie. So the partiers were really beaten. Polanski was about to be expelled from the film school. The splendid iconoclasm of the New Wave everywhere it emerged: think Skolimowski, think Godard, think Oshima. Their disdain for old conventions, for any conventions, for old masters, for any masters, for old art, for any art. The movie that's anti-movie.

Decades earlier Bunuel foresaw the New Wave with his Chien Andalou. Decades later Van Sant would demonstrate New Wave was over, with Gerry. While the tension between reality and artistic rendering of reality remained a constant in the great cinema. Think at today's Kiarostami or Panahi, for instance.

"Rozbijemy zabawe..." is a highly underrated early short by famed director Roman Polanski, made in Poland while he was still a student of film technique. It is perhaps one of the finest allegorical short features ever made, showing the under crust turmoil of the 50's decade better than most major Hollywood films of the time with the exceptions of "Rebel Without a Cause" and "The Wild One," certainly more clearly than the highly touted "Blackboard Jungle."

The barbarians at the gate, which is literally scaled when the outsiders crash the masquerade party where the socially acceptable rich and privileged teens are wallowing in the comfort and security of their parents' wealth and power, take over following an orgy of violence. One is reminded of Sergei M. Eisenstein's famous scene from "Oktyabr(Ten Days That Shook the World)" when peasants are shown sitting on Tsar Nicholas II's throne. Society becomes total chaos. Anarchy reigns. Who picks up the pieces?

Rozbijemy zabawe (1957)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This early short film from Roman Polanski certainly isn't the greatest thing he's ever done but it's got its moments that make it worth viewing. A bunch of fancy nice people are having a cute little dance when a group of punks break in and cause trouble.

Apparently Polanski once threw a party and then invited a group to invade it and break things apart and this is where the story here is coming from. For the most part the B&W cinematography is extremely good and there's certainly a nice comic tone throughout leading up to the violence. There's certainly nothing ground-breaking here and the short remains watchable through it's running time. The final scenes of the aftermath are well done.

This is Polanski's earliest short to tell a complete story, and also his first to use sound. In style it doesn't look particularly Polanski-like if you are used to his later work. It seems to mostly be an exercise in editing and the use of inserts – I don't think a single shot lasts more than a few seconds, a far cry from the long takes I would associate with his features.

Polanski is also taking the opportunity here to experiment with music and sound design, implementing the jazz that is integral to his early work. This is Let's Break the Ball's greatest strength – it has a rhythm to it, something which it is essential for all novice filmmakers to get to grips with. Polanski appears to have grasped it right from the word go.

Story-wise, the theme of a gang of yobs crashing a rather tame, studenty social event is typical of the young, rebellious Polanski, and it's likely there is some sort of upstart message to the authorities intended here. Apparently the partygoers were not forewarned and the attack was genuine – arranged by Polanski as a kind of realist stunt. There are so many varied camera angles and close-ups though that I think many of the little set pieces and inserts – like the women's skirts being ripped – must have been staged.

This is fairly entertaining for a student short. A nice little touch are the bookends which show – in utter contrast to the bulk of the film – the set up and aftermath of the party respectively. Let's Break the Ball is Polanski's first proper opportunity to try out a few techniques, and also his dynamic announcement of his arrival.