Prime Time

Russian movie?! Obviously, it's Polish. Unless I am missing something.

Dont see what all the fuss is about, totally a waste of time, no explanation for the story, boring and an hour too long.

Summary

Prime Time is a film about a lost and desperate young man who wants to massively transmit a message in the pre-social media era and must be evaluated as a disenchanted drama and not as a thriller.

Review

An armed young man breaks into a Polish television studio during the broadcast of a program on New Years Eve 1999 and takes his host and a security guard hostage with the demand to read a message live.

I believe that Jakub Piatek's film should not be seen as a thriller but as a drama and even as an antithriller. The wrong gender assignment will be a source of misjudgment and will frustrate those who see it with thriller expectations. And this is clearly the risk that its director takes and the challenge that it poses to the viewer. On the other hand, the Piatek most successfully doses the implicit theatricality of his proposal, resulting from filming in almost a single stage space a story that also takes place in real time, without ellipsis.

Sebastian (Bartosz Bielenia) is an anonymous young man, between disenchanted and desperate, who wants to make himself heard in a very special historical moment or who lives as special. He must negotiate with the unexpected bureaucracy of the television station and with the erratic behavior of the security forces. Meanwhile, the monitors offer a mosaic of the expectations and demands of Poles in the face of the new millennium. What will Sebastian's message be?

In retrospect, it is interesting to note that we are in a pre-social media era and the only way for an outsider to make themselves heard was to break into TV.

Prime Time is a sad drama without heroes, which does not follow the rules of dramatic progression of the thriller but the ups and downs of reality, where everyone does what they can and how they can while we wait for the reading of poor Sebastian's message, in a movie that is locates in our point of view, preserving its necessary anonymity.

In "Prime Time" the young Sebastian (Bartosz Bielenia) wants his 15 minutes of fame and glory by taking over a TV station to deliver a message to Polish people on New Year's Eve 1999. As hostages he takes over the TV host Mira (Magdalena Poplawska) and the assistant Grzegorz (Andrzej Klak). Tension arises when the police is called and the armed man is eager with his plan of delivering his message to the point of threats to kill everyone.

Interesting premise with great thrilling moments, "Prime Time" may alienate viewers who expect a more elaborated storyline. The intensity of the man's action gets on the way of finding out what's the message this troubled young man wants to give. And it's thanks to the great Bartosz Bielenia, from the amazing "Corpus Christi" that the movie finds some soul and interest. He's an intense and interesting character who struggles with his problems of speech but he's under control over the situation at the TV station leaving everybody nervous all around. To me, since he doesn't give any reasoning for his actions, we are led to believe it was just a rebelious acts to show how unprepared the police system is in giving a proper response to a hostage situation where he can toy those guys around for hours and get the TV people putting him live with a loaded gun.

Sure, it's obvious one wants to expect more from "Prime Time" but the best you're gonna get is the tension and thrills of the story, going from the hostage situation to the people in the booth control trying to solve the situation. The ultimate conclusion one can get from here it's a story about a troubled young man desperate for attention and that's the only way he can get from people. With a more proper message to leave us in more suspense than the usual thriller routine, this movie would be perfect. I liked it and I don't think it goes to waste but I can understand why it may upset more demanding viewers. The editing is fine, the rhythm is adequate and balanced, and there's even some room for dark humor. The acting makes a more than decent experience. Worth of view. 7/10.

What's the point of the film? Frankly, I don't know and maybe nobody else does. For a while, it was a family squabble on air then it was briefly about the hostage taker and the hostages. The viewer learns that Sebastian is a kind teenager if a bit unstable. It ends without conveying the point of it all.

Perhaps, the point is the world doesn't give a damn about a teenager and his message as the new millennium is welcomed. Is it a complete waste of time? Yes, it is if not for the praiseworthy acting of the main characters: Bardosz Bielenia, Magdalena Soplawiska and Andrzej Klak.