Playground

Just watched Plac Zabaw (Playground), and I'm still reeling from an ending that I didn't see coming. I went into this movie blind, but expected something dark, mainly from the ad art etc. But the final act of this movie is just heavy, brutal and stunning. But it's handled so delicately, so matter of factly, that even that becomes disturbing.

Plac Zabaw is a horror film in the true sense.

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.

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.

Well, were do I even begin...

For starters, yes, the film becomes quite disturbing in the end, but the build up before the disturbing part is very slow and kinda goes nowhere. I guess the point of 3/4 of the film was to introduce us the kids, to show that they are basically usual children, doing children's stuff while being cruel at times. That's the whole premise of the 'Playground' as I see it - sometimes (seemingly) perfectly normal kids can do awful things. And they do, sadly.

The very slow build up is actually fine with me. I haven't seen a lot of Polish films, let alone the modern ones, so it was interesting to see how fellow Eastern Europeans live. The cinematography is just competent, but that's good enough and acting is surprisingly good, especially for such young kids. Basically there's 3 main characters: Gabrysia - a girl from a wealthy family, an exemplary student, yet a bit social awkward, Szymek - a boy from a somewhat poorer family, popular in school and Czarek - a boy from a lower-class family. We follow them throughout the day, witnessing them doing daily routine and having anger issues, and then the climax happens. Or what seems to be a climax at first. Then the film pulls out a twist and hits you on your head with the real one. Hope it doesn't count as a spoiler.

I like how the final scene was shot: you witness the events through surveillance cameras or from a distance. You already suspect what's about to happen, you don't want it to happen, yet feel all the more helpless, observing it from afar. The final minutes will most likely make you shudder, and it's really a testament how you don't have to go full gore to invoke strong repulsive emotions.

At the end, it would have made for a great short film: in this current form it might be a tad too sluggish. The plot twist feels kinda cheap, and the finale sort of rolls out of nowhere, but maybe it was the whole point. The violence for no reason feels all the more terrifying, especially done by children. 'Plac Zabaw' is not perfect, but worth your time if you're interested in Eastern European cinema or you from the 'disturbing movies' crowd, even though it's not the most disturbing flick by far.

This film was loosely based on the real life kidnapping and brutal torture/murder in England, of 2-year old James Bulger in 1993...by two 10-year old boys. The end footage of the CCTV video, of the two boys walking with the child, is really how it happened and the rest of the movie, although filmed at a distance, depicts the horrible things they did to this poor boy. He was beaten, tortured, sodomized and bludgeoned to death. More details surrounding the case can be found with a simple internet search... RIP precious James...