Starring: Marcin Kowalczyk, Tomasz Schuchardt, Dawid Ogrodnik, Arkadiusz Jakubik
Directed by: Leszek Dawid
Rating: ★★★☆☆
The creation of the polish rap crew Paktofonika, as show in the first half of Jesteś Bogiem (You are God) may recall to the viewers the story of three self-starters in their attempt to form a boy band. The script, indeed, contains just a few references to the sudden emergence of hardcore psycho rap in Katowice, a style of MC-ing characterized by highly subjective, often self-directed lyrics and subversive flow.
On the other hand, You are God is also scrupulous elegy of tech culture in the Nineties when floppy disks and compact cassettes were the rule for self-produced ‘nielegal’ recordings. By focusing on Piotr Łuszcz aka „Magik” precocious rise and fall, Leszek Dawid, however, has nearly succeeded in outlining the existential malaise of a generation but neglected to portray their thirst for redress. You are God is, at the same time, an innocuous biopic and a poignant homage to the dramatic figure of Magik, with the failure of his personal life making up the lion’s share of the story.
Even if Dawid’s biopic finally fails to capture the vitality of the Silesian rap scene, it reinforces Kadr Studio’s reputation of producing well-refined mainstream features. Ki (2011), a dardenn-esque drama starring Roma Gąsiorowska praised at Berlin is still the best introduction to Dawid’s filmmaking career.
Originally published by The Krakow Post on September 09, 2013