woodhatton 60

A Polish film with the most unmemorable title ever, not many film titles go for a colon in the middle but it must sound great in its original language. I'd watched about 80% of this movie but thought it was the end, bad guy was finally caught and locked up, swelling orchestral music rises, but no!, there's yet more because the killer of the main character's daughter had yet to be found. Admittedly, I was ready to let this last murder go by this point but I guess the internal logic of the drama dictated this one loose end be resolved. So on it goes, the last 20% unspools before the credits finally do roll. Having said all that, this isn't a bad film as a single body on the beach leads to multiple sinister corruption seemingly involving the whole of the town it's set in yet our heroic cop insists on digging down to the truth despite his seniors determination to wrap the crime up having pinned it onto an improbable previous offender who had just been released. Not brilliant but just above average.

Awful film of no merit whatsoever, mediocre acting, stupid plot and dull, flat dialogue.

This is an excellent film but there will be plenty of people who will hate it because so many viewers find complexity, compromise and reality difficult to bear, they want to see good prevail over evil and see the baddies get their comeuppance but this is an intricately woven tale that doesn't let us off that easily. The story concerns a group friends who are taken from their village and forced into the most appalling, degrading work. The first thing they learn is they are in debt to their employer for being transported, fed and kept in squalid prison-like conditions but one of group starts to show more initiative and is treated with more favoritism than his friends. As the story unfolds this favored worker is given ever greater freedoms and responsibilities and so the distance between him and his friends grows but the changes are incremental and with each change the compromises cause yet more separation and division. It's not an enjoyable film but it isn't supposed to be, it's a sobering depiction of how millions of modern-day slaves survive in a ruthless global economy. Highly recommended.

This movie is simply next level when it comes to action packed scenes which are all depicted with such verve and imagination, there's no dull moments, no longeurs, it keeps you gripped from the opening moments to the very end. The plot is simple and straightforward but there's no wasted sequences on scene setting or tedious emoting, it's just a full on battle between a highly armed police swat team tasked with taking out a drugs cartel who have total control of a high rise block and even though it ultimately pivots on some high level corruption the real surprise is how this film manages to fully hold the viewers attention throughout. Clever and inventive, highly recommended.

A film made with conviction and good production values but I had no clue what was going on half the time, couldn't understand what people were saying or which side was fighting for what. There seemed to be several factions vying for supremacy although which faction we were supposed to be rooting for is anyone's guess, maybe none of them. I see a number of reviewers have given this film top rating but for thew life of me I can't see why.