Prime Time

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.

As I have already said about MONEY MONSTER - a film whch the topic is very close to this one - and another Polish movie released by Netflix last year. LE GOUT DE LA HAINE - French release title - Sidney Lumet's shadow and spirit seems to be in both films. A radical critism of the human world and society, thru networks for instance. Gloomy, depressing but so close to reality.

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.

The film had everything to be good but its ending was disappointing. What message did the film want to convey? I didn't understand and It frustrated me because I was expecting an interesting ending. The actors performance was great but, the ending ruined everything.

Bartosz Bielenia, Magdalena Poplawska and Andrzej Klak's performances were wonderful. I also liked the female police officer as well.

The title attracted my attention as soon as I saw it on Netflix, and then I was hooked by the filmography, story line and suspense.

However... The bulk of climatic moments disappointed. From a social/emotional standpoint, after waiting until the near end, we never got to hear the critical message to the public which would have provided both personal satisfaction and social insight. And lastly, I was very disappointed in the stage crew's responses (and lack thereof) as well as decisions made by police.