mikeberanek

Now I both love Steve Coogan and I tend to be easily-drawn to sentimental schmaltzy stuff I wasn't too agreived of the lack of any real political satire in this incredulous farce. I was charmed by the lovely characters wearing away at the hard heart of our comedian's comedian doing a questionable somewhere-in-the-USA accent. In fact the gutteral rasping was so indeterminate that it was both a bad American accent, but also a bad English one! There's nothing original in the political narrative of the Trump-era culture wars, but some great character driven comedy, a manic pace going nowhere, which gets all jumbled up with random action sequences, extended human interest and skin curdling cringe-inducing romantic bits... which both terrified me but also had me blubbering by the titles. So, in summary it was because of, not despite of its weird flawed hubris that really liked it.

I suppose the use of a harsh word like 'boring' is only excusable for an amateur review writer, and so, there I've said it, boring! There has been so much hype about this film with the Oscars and all and all the meticulous period-detail involved (no denying that), but it came across as such a let down to actually sit down and watch. It is over-laden with turgid dialogue, one found that wheezy voice Day-Lewis gives the character quickly became rather annoying and the pomposity of the production as a whole was unbearable. So little humour, so much obsession with procedural motions of government! In such momentous times one would have thought something exciting or thrilling might be portrayed, but alas! This movie takes itself far far too seriously and ends up becoming less anthem, more anaesthetic.

There is so much to this set of films - so much wisdom of life and so much intrigue and so much revealing of the human condition! This deserves the descriptor Masterpiece through and through. The mystery and unpredictability of the stories makes writing a review without spoilers difficult. This is of the caliber of great literature that arises out of conditions of relative poverty and obscurity as Poland was under at this time, in the dying embers of the Cold War and Soviet dilapidation. Dark, but at the same time a testament to the sanctity of human life. It's not always easy to know which particular commandment is being alluded to, but that doesn't matter, they are just ten cracking stories of life and morality at the interface between the public and the personal.