Liked the first half a lot. Director Kryztof Kieslowski takes a good idea...basically, Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Polish Factory Guy...and executes it nicely, with the proper jaunty, comic tone along with more serious undercurrents. And Jerzy Stuhr's performance, with its mixture of bemusement, wonder, trepidation, and excitement over the new world that has opened to him through purchase of a camera to record his daughter's birth, is powerful in its understated simplicity. Not a lot of actors can convincingly portray an Everyman. James Stewart. Tom Hanks. Jean Gabin. Spencer Tracy. Alec Guinness. Well, to that list you can append Stuhr.
Second half is not as good, in my opinion. Kieslowski's tone takes a sharp turn to the dark, gloomy side, not usually a good sign in movies (with a few exceptions, like "Something Wild"). And by film's end the message has gone from one of hope to one of despair as to the ability of art to transform one's life from the mundane to the interesting. It is almost as if Kieslowski is warning young Poles discovering the magic of movies to be careful for what they wish. And, coming from a great Polish film maker, that is kind of dispiriting, in my opinion. B minus.
Second half is not as good, in my opinion. Kieslowski's tone takes a sharp turn to the dark, gloomy side, not usually a good sign in movies (with a few exceptions, like "Something Wild"). And by film's end the message has gone from one of hope to one of despair as to the ability of art to transform one's life from the mundane to the interesting. It is almost as if Kieslowski is warning young Poles discovering the magic of movies to be careful for what they wish. And, coming from a great Polish film maker, that is kind of dispiriting, in my opinion. B minus.