BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN (BABARDEALA CU BUCLUC SAU PORNO BALAMUC)
(director/writer: Radu Jude; cinematographer: Marius Panduru; editor: Catalin Cristutiu; music: Jura Ferina, Pavao Miholjevic; cast: Katia Pascariu (Emi), Claudia Ieremia (Headmistress), Olimpia Malai (Mrs. Lucia), Nicodim Ungureanu (Lt. Gheorghescu), Alexandru Potocean (Marius Buzdrugovici), Andi Vasluianu (Mr. Otopeanu), Ştefan Steel (Eugen); Runtime: 106; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Ada Solomon; Kinorama; 2021-black and white-Romania/Croatia/Czech Republic/Luxumborg-in Romanian & English)
“An angry rant absurdist sex satire for the Covid-19 era, that makes fun in particular of the Romanian power brokers for their sexual hypocrisy.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Romanian New Wave filmmaker Radu Jude (“Aferim!”/”Uppercase Print”) shoots an angry rant absurdist sex satire for the Covid-19 era, that makes fun in particular of the Romanian power brokers for their sexual hypocrisy. It was the winner of the 2021 Berlinale Golden Bear.
School teacher Emi (Katia Pascariu) is in a graphic sex tape that goes viral and catches grief for it, compromising her job as she must meet with parents upon the request of her headmistress (Claudia Ieremia). The upset parents that want her fired include (anti-maskers, racists, xenophobes, homophobes, conspiracy-makers and ignorant parents censoring the curriculum). But she refuses to give in to them. Her husband (Ştefan Steel, star of adult movies) uploaded it to the internet’s Pornhub site against her wishes. Who knows what he was thinking! Everyone here seems wack.
We see citizens walking around Bucharest openly using foul language, talking about ridiculous things, and many are filled with hate.
The second part expands the film’s turf beyond merely sexual politics, as it becomes confrontational as it reaches for wider national issues to comment on for the next 26 minutes. It highlights various embarrassing incidents that have plagued the country, such as: the Orthodox Church keeping its doors closed to revolutionaries under army fire in 1989; a Nazi massacre of Jews and Roma on the Eastern Front; queers jeered at as “degenerates”; the death by blood poisoning of a Romanian worker in Italy who extracted his own teeth when unable to pay for a dentist. These past incidents are shown in archive photos.
Comparing Emi’s sex tape to the lethal atrocities committed by the sanctimonious Church and state seems unfair to this progressive filmmaker.
The reenactments do well as absurdist comedy. It’s a film you can’t get enough dirt and vulgarity into all the venom spilling out. The dialogue is razor sharp. It’s a good watch, especially if you had it up to your gizzards watching the degenerate Trump and his idiot followers hog the TV news during his time in office.
This Romanian film transfers well many of the same issues currently plaguing the United States.
REVIEWED ON 3/24/2021 GRADE: B+