Plac zabaw

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.

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.

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.

I've just finished watching "Playground", so forgive me if I'm more than a little shaken. For the purpose of background, I am a huge horror fan. It's my preferred genre, and one that I spend more time than is probably healthy watching.

Playground is not what I'd call a horror film. In fact, it's not even a film that I can, in good conscience, recommend to anyone.

It is a horror film in the sense that what transpires is horrific, but it's not ghosts and goblins or inexplicably immortal slashers. What transpires is horrific because it is real. No, this isn't a snuff film, though it is based on a very real case that other reviewers have touched on.

I am no lightweight. I've seen just about anything you can imagine in the realm of fictional violence. I've always stopped short of anything depicting cruelty towards real people.

Heed my warning when I say that this movie is not one you should enter into blindly. Do some research first, for God's sake, and make sure you're braced for what is to come.

I gave this a "10" because it truly horrified me. I'm so unnerved that I'm trembling as I write this. It's a "10" because this is the world we've created, a world where this kind of horror is all-too commonplace. A world devoid of empathy. I gave this a "10" because maybe some people need to be made to watch this. Maybe some people need to bear witness to what they've made.

... but is it good? Well it's very well made. And you can argue that the acting is really good. It almost feels too real. As in documentary real and painful in a way that you are inside the whole thing, watching some despicable characters and some very awful things happening too. Of course kids will be kids as they say, but how much can they get away with? And how much or how far do they go? It's not that the movie has answers to all the questions.

We have a couple of kids who have their own worries and their own lifes. We get to see how they are at home and how they act when they are at school (and with friends). So while I cannot stress out enough, that this movie might feel slow and dragging to some, not to mention a bit dark (to put it mildly), it is also very well made. So if you are into arthouse and real life cinema ... this is it.