The Free Market Cinema

Polish Action Flms in the 1990

PIGS (Psy, 1992)

Psy=Dogs, slang for cops.

Director:

Władysław Pasikowski.

Starring:

Bogusław Linda, Marek Kondrat, Cezary Pazura, Janusz Gajos.

"What is 'Dogs' about? 'About a dog's world, about the fact that freedom also engenders filth and stupidity while destroying ideals.” www.filmpolski.pl

Pigs II: The Last Blood(Psy II: Ostatnia krew, 1994)

A critic about Pigs: “[I]t is one of the most important Polish films of the 1990s. ... going far beyond the craft of gangster films, introducing a new esthetics and a new type of a hero to Polish filmmaking.” (Gazeta Wyborcza, December 15, 2000).

A new (anti?)hero of the 1990s

Lonely;

Middle-aged;

Desperate;

Reckless;

Drinking;

Out of work;

Former officer;

Hopelessly fights criminals;

Wins accidentally (if ever).

Sara (1997)

Director:

Maciej Ślesicki

Starring:

Bogusław Linda and Agnieszka Włodarczyk

Genre: action/romance/parody.

Ironic references to famous films, Polish and American.

Sara: Ironic References

Mafia films (The Godfather)watched by the characters;

A poster of Daddy (Tato);

The character’s name and a poster of Leon: The Professional by Luc Besson.

A tango scene: The Scent of a Woman.

Leon burns a book: Dostoevski’s Crime and Punishment.

The final scene: K9.

Sara

Drug dealer scene

The tango scene

Action

The Killer (Kiler, 1997)

Director: Juliusz Machulski

Starring: Cezary Pazura, Jerzy Stuhr.

Soundtrack: Electryczne Gitary (Electric Guitars), a popular rock group.

A quid pro quo (mix-up) comedy.

Parody on Western action films; comic use of clichés.

Followed by Two Killers (Kiler-ów 2-óch, 1997).