Directed by: Aleksandra Terpińska
Starring: Jacek Beler, Sonia Bohosiewicz, Magdalena Koleśnik, Sebastian Fabijański
Rating: ★★★★★
Are filmmakers in Poland brave enough to approach the works of edgy Polish novelist Dorota Masłowska? In the past decade, in fact, no director took up the challenge. The few names that attempted to bring her works on the big screen, had to put aside any obsession with imperfection. So it was for Aleksandra Terpińska who entertained a limited audience with the gut-punchy and dystopic short film Najpiękniejsze fajerwerki ever (The Best Fireworks Ever, 2017). For her full-length debut film, she was audacious enough to pick Masłowska’s Inni ludzie (Other People).
Before Terpińska, only Xawery Żuławski had brought a Masłowska’s book on the big screen. Eventually, the ominously titled in Polish Wojna polsko-ruska (Snow White and Russian Red, 2009), a daring effort directed by Żuławski, stayed afloat, thank to the acting artistry of Boryz Szyc in the role of track-suited loafer Chudy “Nails”. When Terpińska confessed that she considers the cinematic rendition of Snow White and Russian Red a ”cartoonish” film, she did not mean it in a derogatory way. Nevertheless, the Polish female director wanted to do things differently, and she did it. Talentless Kamil from Other People resembles Nails only to a certain extent. Nails is an outgoing patriotic chav, while Kamil is all focused on himself and lost in the dream of becoming a rapper.
Actors received a songbook and had to learn how to rap their speech in Other People. Eventually, all the cast seems to work and rap like charm It’s a pleasure to see again on the screen Magdalena Koleśnik after her exploit in Sweat (2020), this time, in the more coarse-mannered role of Kamil’s girlfriend, Aneta. Sonia Bohosiewicz as well, makes an excellent impression as Iwona, a newly rich and vengeful housewife that has been deceived by her husband. The screenplay includes also a hip-hop fashioned Jesus as a film narrator who keeps a close watch on the story — a clever ruse. Cheekily played by Sebastian Fabijański, the “christus ex machina” works as a sort of cinematic incarnation of the Christ with shopping bags featured in a famous Bansky print design.
In Other People the cinematic rhythm is more important than the rhyme, also courtesy of Magdalena Chowańska’s never banal film editing flow. Other People is a daring rapped musical film without dancing and overflowed with fresh ideas. As gifted as Jagoda Szelc in filmmaking, another native of Wrocław born in the 80s, Terpińska won the Best Directorial Debut prize in Gdynia for this film.
Film Reviewed by Giuseppe Sedia
Published by Kino Mania on June 22, 2022