Vinci

I like foreign movies, and I realize that since I rely on subtitles, I often miss the humor a native speaker might appreciate. I know nothing of Machulskiego; I found the DVD at the library and it looked interesting, so I figured I should give it a try.

Much of the movie is the planning of the crime and the character conflicts; it's not a 100% action movie. I like this: it makes the actual crime and getaway that much more exciting, and it reminded me of the original Italian Job (a favorite). The problem was that I didn't really like or dislike any of the characters. Will they pull it off? Will the bad guys (whichever ones you decide they are) get it in the end? Will a romance happen? I just didn't care.

The acting was good. The cinematography was good. I didn't shut if off.

5 stars.

Wow, I love this film! Juliusz Machulski was always one of my all-time favorite directors, especially with his Va Bank films, but here he proved that he still hasn't lost his touch and remains in the cohorts of the Polish living classics. Vinci is a typically Polish comedy, with excellent Slavic humor, twisting plot and hilarious characters. The plot seems to be so simple - some crooks want to steal a Vinci picture and then there are so many other criminals who also want to lay their hands on the work of art. What is great here is the vivid performance of Machulski in the role of an old but still effective thief, who can do everything to fool other crooks down and to get his share of money. The picturesque views of Krakow, excellent playing, funny dialogs all add to the picture. Do not search for the sky-high sense or extremely serious ideas. This is entertainment in its clearest sense. But what a clever work!

I have just seen this film on special release in a cinema here in Melbourne Australia, subtitled into English. I think I might have been the only non-Polish person in the audience! I found the film to be a very enjoyable light crime caper movie but, more interestingly, a rare opportunity to see contemporary Poland reflected in the movies - plot wise, I couldn't help but be reminded of the remake of The Italian Job.

I thought it was beautifully photographed on location in southern Poland - as a native English speaker, may I say that it is not common to see movies like this played out in foreign languages with English subtitles (outside of the SE Asian action genres). I found the whole movie very enjoyable, although no doubt I missed some of the in jokes that did not translate into the subtitles.

Vinci is just the next movie of Julusz Machulski, polish director widely known (at least in Poland) as director of quite clever and good comedies and crime-comedies like "Vabank" or "Kiler" (which was best-selling polish comedy years ago), so the genre "Crime" what "Vinci" seems to be classified as is not fully correct. As usual from this director you should rather expect funny crime story type of movie and so "Vinci" is. However, I personally would not call "Vinci" the best movie Machulski ever made, but fortunately all his movies never were time wasters even they were not brilliant. The plot ain't very unique and as you have probably guessed, it's all about most famous painting of Leonardo Da Vinci, and while it's still crime-o-type movie, you may also expect some bad guys sniffing around the painting with thievery in mind. Good acting and funny dialogs are the bright side of this movie, however I'd expect a bit more complicated plot from Machulski. Hopefully you shouldn't get bored but rather enjoy watching this movie.

The sophisticated thief of art Robert "Cuma" Cuminski (Robert Wieckiewicz) is released on probation from the local prison by the corrupt Doctor Wiaderny (Jerzy Gralek) to organize the theft of the famous Leonardo Da Vinci painting "Lady with Ermine" for the dealer Gruby (Mieczyslaw Grabka). Three years ago, Cuma was accidentally arrested by the snoopy detective Wilk (Marcin Dorocinski) after a successful heist in the house of the collector Lehman, but he has not ratted his comrade Julian (Borys Szyc). Cuma meets Julian, now a police officer and law student, and invites him to steal the painting but Julian is reluctant. They hire the falsifier Tadeusz Hagen (Jan Machulski) and the talented student Magda (Kamilla Baar) to paint a replica and carefully plan the robbery in details while Detective Milk does not give a break to Cuma, who has to meet him every other day.

"Vinci" is a surprisingly pleasant movie with comedy, action and thriller. The story is a sort of a contemporary "The Sting" in Poland, with funny situations, witty dialogs, nice characters and a very enjoyable screenplay. The direction of Juliusz Machulski is excellent, giving the adequate pace to develop the simple plot of a heist in an enjoyable feature to be discovered by viewers, very well supported by a cast that has great performances. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Da Vinci – O Crime Como Uma Arte" ("Da Vinci – The Crime as an Art")