Erupcja

I knew almost nothing about this movie except that it was Charli xcx in Warsaw, which is where I’m from, so obviously I had to go. And right from the jump I was pleasantly surprised to find that the credits were in Polish, as was the voice-over narration, and all of the initial dialogue. It felt like a truly bi-cultural movie — I guess some would say that it actually skews more Polish, but given that the assumed perspective for most movie-goers is British/American, it really has to heavily lean into the Polish to achieve anything like parity.

Anyways, so I pretty much loved the movie. First off, omg a 71 minute movie? YES PLEASE. If I’m totally honest, they could have shaved off another 8-10 minutes and that would’ve been even better. But truly, thank god they didn’t stretch it to 90+!

Second: it captures Warsaw, at least my version of it, SO well. Yes some geographic things are a little weird but in general the summertime vibes are just spot-on, and the shots of Warsaw were so wonderfully composed. It’s not the elegant or historical version of the city, it’s the bustling, lived in, beloved version (to my eyes anyhow).

Also that there’s a moment when someone says “Somewhere romantic? And you didn’t think to go to Krakow?” and I guffawed. Just perfect.

But also, it’s a really smart and nuanced contemporary love story. I don’t want to spoil it, so maybe stop reading here if you want to know NOTHING about it (which I always prefer), but I’ll put it this way — it starts off as a really dead-on account of being a thrill-seeking young woman who is more interested in reveling in the excitement of an adventure with another very cool woman than she is in her boring boyfriend. But then it takes a more critical perspective on how such relationships get romanticized, and has some really interesting turns (including a moment of real wisdom for Boring Boyfriend that I thought was fantastic). I really appreciated it. It’s not an earth-shattering movie, but it’s an engagingly intelligent and creative one. I recommend it.