Edi (2002)

After boring 90 minutes, I felt my times was completely wasted. If you like Kieslowsy, look somewhere else. To some people, it is artistic to portrait poor lives. It is sometimes true (Monster, Rossetta) and most time false. Edi is perfect example of how silly "art house" movies can be. A basic requirement for a basic movie is internal logic. It was obvious that the princess was protecting someone and having Edi as the easy cover up and the brothers did not suspect that. It was so ridiculous to have someone cut his balls off without fighting back even this is the kind of character the movie makers are trying to give to Edi. Don't even mention the Christmas crap, what a cheap cliché. I agree with Godard, a bad Hollywood action movie is much tolerable than a bad European art movie.

Edi (2002), directed and co-scripted by Piotr Trzaskalski, was shown at the Rochester Polish Film Festival at the Little Theatre.Henryk Golebiewski plays Edi (pronounced "Eddie"), an intelligent and gentle intellectual, who has ended up literally and figuratively on the scrapheap--he collects scrap metal on the street. His business partner, Jureczek (played by Jacek Braciak) is neither intelligent nor particularly gentle. (The relationship between the two men reminded me of the relationship between George and Lennie in "Of Mice and Men.") The two live at the fringe of society, barely making enough money to keep a roof over their heads and liquor in their systems. Two brutal gangsters--known only as "The Brothers," hire Edi to tutor their sister so that she will pass her high school examinations. The sister, Princess, played by Aleksandra Kisio, is attractive in a nubile adolescent way, and Edi falls in love with her. This love leads Edi to make two immense sacrifices for Princess--sacrifices that will change his life forever. The film also stars the luminous Polish actor Malgorzata Flegel-Siedler as Krysia, a woman whose relationship with Edi provides us with his "back-story."This is a sad film about bad things happening to a kind and gentle man. It's not cheerful or cheering, but it's serious, well made, and worth seeing.

i went to see this film based primarily on the reviews of people on imdb. someone compared it to american beauty, which i loved. others talked about how it was poignant, depressing, touching.were we watching the same film? the film i saw was so mind-bogglingly stupid that i HOPED for the death and disfigurement of every character in it! perhaps it was subtitled by someone whose only vocabulary came from a traveler's guide. maybe in its native language it had something meaningful to say which was lost in the translation. it's possible for films to have little dialogue or very simplistic dialogue and still be intelligent, poignant, etc. unfortunately, this was not one of those.i rarely walk out of a theater. my belief is that if you've paid for a film, you may as well stay through until the end and hope it gets better. however, after an hour of this crap, it was clear that the only way things would improve would be if we got up and left.

A realistic look at the problem of homelessness in the city of last decades' great factories, in middle-east of Europe, heart of Poland: in Lodz. A story about looking at our lives from the perspective of the trash, which is a perspective of more and more people. You will totally change Your attitude to things. You will see how hatred, but even lack of self respect, can ruin a man's life... Very poor, cold and dirty one, but with many happy moments.The scenery of the City of Lodz is very natural, I know most of places shown in the movie from wandering after school. Such gloomy bars really serve mainly cheap wine or beer. It's worth seeing.