Reviews

This is an amazing movie on many fronts and it falls into that category that you don't mind seeing over again. Although the premise of watching the a movie about junk collectors is not appealing, this is really a feel good movie with humour that will have you thinking all the way home. Made apparently on a skimpy budget, with no stars and some amateur cast it really shows what brilliant movie making can be when a good story, script, direction and photography as well as crew talent are all combined.

Some people see parallels between Edi and American Beauty and there seem to be a few but IMO there is more depth to Edi. In Edi the clearly pictured, focused and simply told with bitter-sweet humour (although the latter may be missed on non Polish audiences) take on life and our role in the world overall, is much neater and with more depth than that of the characters in American Beauty. All of this is done avoiding Hollywood sentimentalism.

I really cannot find any weak points in the movie. I do hope that this is a sign of the blossoming of a new breed of Polish film makers. Go and see it.

This is one the worst movies I've seen in a long time: Poor acting, ridiculous script, lot's of cliched and pseudo-philosophic moments. It's one saving grace is the photography and some of the camera work. I had to restrain myself strongly from not walking out halfway during the screening, but at least had quite a few laughs in the second half. Unfortunately it definitely put me off this director, even though I liked Run Lola Run.

This is quite a poor movie on many fronts, although it does succeed in combining an impressive cast and some large battle scenes. The story is unfortunately populated by cartoon characters. Some of them are so hideous e.g. french farmer celebrating shelling of the beach right by his house, that I just hoped the writers would have had the mercy to kill them quickly. Unfortunately, they did not. The acting is wooden (yes, John Wayne is here), and the actors are given some howler lines to deliver. The battle scenes, although using an impressive number of extras and equipment, fail to deliver on the realism side; the cliff climbing scene is just plain silly. The beach landing is very similar to that in Saving Private Ryan, however the pace is slower, with a smaller body count. Overall, although no doubt an achievement for it's time this film has aged badly. It's story is definitely more interesting and relevant than that in SPR, however the screenplay and acting are poor. Watch it if you have nothing else to do for 3 hrs or want some laughs.

This has got to be one of the most refreshing, off-beat movies I've seen in a long while. Welcome to Kusturica's world, and what a world... This film, apart from providing quite a few slap-stick laughs also delivers some visual jewels. The sunflower field scene with the two young lovers frolicking with joyful abandon is one of the most memorable ones and perhaps a simple summary of what I found this movie to be: One full of colours, energy, and a sense of happy carefree existence in a world where rules are only written as need be, all accompanied by an inebriating gypsy soundtrack.