Zero (2009)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Viewed at the Eleventh Los Angeles Polish Film Festival, April 2010. The unquestioned highlight of the week was Pawel Borowski's debut feature entitled simply "Zero". This a daisy chain of linked stories, crime, betrayals, accidents and incidents, set in an unnamed big city, something like the French classic "La Ronde" or more recently, Andersen's "Magnolia", but yet off in a direction all of its own that could well start a whole new trend in Polish cinema. Borowski uses bright crystal clear photography to contrastively tell an extremely dark, noirish tale with a lingering rhythm that stops to take a good look at people along the way without slowing down the stream of events -- slow and fast at the same time! There are no glamorous actors in this film and yet they are all grippingly real. The camera work of Arkadius Tomiak announces the arrival of a new Pawel Edelman. To do this film justice would take several pages at least. Suffice it to say that "Zero" is a minor masterpiece that people in Poland will be talking about for a long time to come. Director Borowski says that it was well received but far from a box office hit back home, however it is beginning to draw lots of attention on the film festival circuit where just a few days ago it was declared the best film at the Washington, D.C. film festival. In any case, Bravo Borowski -- and keep up the good work.

Zero is an amazing film, equivalent, if not better than the movie "Crash". Clearly, there is no racial stratification in this film as it is geographically centered in a mono-racial Poland. I rate it a 10 out of 10 for its strong characters, concise and poignant dialogue, minimal and effective directing, dramatic acting, epic sensationalism, and it's natural integration.I am a very picky film viewer. I am not interested in many films; rather, I am content with clever thrillers and action flicks, as well as comedy (Fratire and Urban). The plot for this film.. "A story about love and hatred, about those who cheat and who are cheated, about violence and sex and surprising secrets which we learn within these strange twenty four hours," very simply caught my attention.As I stated earlier, although this film does not contain interracial interactions as did the gripping "Crash", we experience the intersection of all other social dynamics as they mesh together so beautifully. The characters are too cleverly intertwined to the point the viewer consciously trusts the screenplay in its totality. Whilst Americans are exposed to the heartwarming stories of triumph and tear-jerking realities such as "Precious", this film reaches deep into one's emotional reserves and provokes as much sympathy as contempt.This film is a must see for any fan of simultaneous life experiences and the social effects of conscience, morality, and sexuality. A must see...