Dzien swira

"Day of Wacko" is in my opinion the best ever Polish movie. And I'm surely NOT exaggerating. Non-Poles who are not interested in or have no idea about Polish culture and realities will probably not get half of the film, but I still recommend it to anyone who's open minded.

This is a story about a well-educated and intelligent teacher in his middle-ages, who can't stand stupidity, ignorance, his neighbours, and generally everyone and everything around him. If you've seen "Falling Down" (1993) with Michael Douglas, which is by the way another film I'd recommend, you'll get the point. However, no plagiarism was used here. The main character hates himself as well, mainly for the lack of inspiration in writing and still being dependant on his mother. The whole movie is presented within the monologues he has in his head, in many cases dirty ones. And by that I mean many vulgarisms, which at some point may get repelling. Although containing some comic parts, this film is depressing, especially if you think about the man's tragedy, because his life can be called like that. If you try to understand his situation, see why he's frustrated, and why there are so many negative feelings in him, you'll probably reach the point in which you'll feel down. There are many Polish stereotypes, system faults, and absurd presented and in some way laughed out. But then again, you have a depressing feeling of not being able to do anything about it. I really recommend watching this movie to anyone, especially to those who have some mixed feelings about the world. If it's possible, try to talk to any Polish person around, so he/she would explain some of the things that may be typical for Polish society and not common at all in other cultures. I just hope the English translation of this film is good...

General note: 10/10 and I really mean it.

I think it definitely is. Recently Polish films were pretty much always with Olaf Lubaszenko and Cezary Pazura. A decent director/actor pair but nothing special. Their films like "E=mc2" and "Chlopaki nie placza" were funny but rather mundane, just vulgar humor followed by slapstick. It's funny, but you get sick of it after a while. Then there were movies like "Psy" which are Polish wannabe American crime thrillers and action movies. Again they were decent efforts, but not comparable to movies of the same genre from Hong Kong (Hard Boiled) or America (Resevoir Dogs). This film however is a true work of art. Not just made to look cool, but to express a directors point of view. I think it compares to Aronofsky's masterpiece "Pi," in that it's story about a man lost in the search for something. Granted is the fact that this is a very different film than "Pi" in its story, but artistically it's a good achievement for a Polish director who looks like he is on his way to be among Wajda and Kieslowski. 9/10

No MPAA rating. Contains strong profanity

DAY OF THE WACKO, directed by Marek Koterski, is a rather droll comedy about the daily life of an eccentric and depressed Polish high-school teacher. He's angry, lonely, underpaid, unappreciated, and can envision no end to his predicament. Imagine a film in which the ambient spirit of Eleanor Rigby is reconfigured as a very frustrated Polish, middle-aged nerd, and you come close to the tone of this dark farce. There are some scenes which are very funny, and others are just plain odd. Yet, overall, the film is worth a look. When the hero visits the beach to relax and unwind, he meets some of the craziest and bizarre characters that one could imagine. A few of these scenes are flat-out hysterical. Bonus Features are all in Polish without sub-titles.

Dzien Swira ( Day of the freak) is Koterski's latest addition to an already impressive portfolio. Like his other semi-autobiographical move titled Nic Smiesznego ( nothing funny), Dzien Swira records the inner dialogue & the prose of a single day in the life of Adam Miauczynski, a character based on M. Koterski. Miauczynski, like Koterski, is an compulsive-obsessive, excentric, bitter & disillusioned individual caught in Poland's post communist reality, a reality as Ill suited to him as the communist one was. One of the reasons why Koterski's work is either loved or intensly disliked by Poles, is the painfully acurate description of polish hell, made all the more vivid by his insistance on showing the trivial & at the same time essential moments of daily life in excruciating detail. life is all the more hell when the damned are aware that life could be different, and this is what makes Miauczynski's suffering all the more real. A number of the scenes are classics, unequalled by any of Koterski's contemporaries, especially the scenes depicting Miauczynski's relationship with his son, the senate, train toilet and street demonstration scenes.

It is unfortuante for the western viewer that the context & language of the film make it very difficult to translate adequatly, refering as it does to polish classical literature, contemporary culture and nigh-untranslatable street slang, the contrast being all the more vivid, since Miauczynski is a Polish literature lecturer obsessed with what he percieves to be the decay of the language he loves.

If I were to compare Koterski to any western director, it would be to Britain's Mike Leigh. An insane Mike leigh with an infectious sense of humour & a penchant for social commentary.

All in all, This is Koterski's finest work to date, perhaps the finest Polish film in the last 5 years. My rating is a solid 8/10

I'm not sure what some get so uptight about nitpicking some small details and missing the whole big picture and the wonderfull moments of the film. I also left Poland as a child in 1979 and one thing I had to live through is bad Hollywood films:P This movie can be crude, but why shouldnt it be. If your life turned out like this you would be extremely unhappy and likelly using rather colorfull words when you reached the boiling point as the main character has. The film is simply art, it had no typical pre-fabricated way of telling the story, it was simply a day in life of an angry man with a life time of regrets and love that he yearned for. It also had some critisisms of Poles in general and I have to agree, sometimes there was to many "me me me" when I have visited insted of "we". I think the prayer at the end summoned it up. Most of all it is a satire, it is taken to extreme in places, thats what satires do, so dont take this to literally, just enjoy and try to understand that it is not you regular moron proof hollywood movie where everything is laid out in front of you and overexplained so the dimmer amongst us dont ask to many questions. To me its one of the best films I have seen in the last ten years, a pleasant surprise.