I would like to say that I am delighted with “Magnezja” by Maciek Bochniak. I waited impatiently for the premiere: there were many indications that I would get a comedy western in Polish in the spirit of Tarantino. I was promised a crazy movie and I believed it. However, when I watched the production, I left the cinema feeling that what I saw was too … serious. And for my endurance, somewhere half an hour too long.
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“Magnezja” – the first western in the Polish edition with a teaser. Ostaszewska rules the gang!
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Western in Polish, or “Magnezja”
The script for “Magnezja” was written by the duo Maciej Bochniak – Mateusz Kościukiewicz, who became known in 2015 with the unconventional film “Disco-Polo”, in which the greatest hits of the 90s served as an excuse to write a fairy-tale, a little sensational, strongly comedy and abstract success story music from the provinces. The gentlemen showed then that they like and are able to juggle film conventions, they like to wink at the viewer and put in their stories a lot of flavors. The cast was excellent and first-league (Dawid Ogrodnik, Tomasz Kot, Joanna Kulig, Piotr Głowacki etc.), and even ahead of its time: Bartosz Bielenia appeared there in a rather dark episode, who played a mafia boy from dirty work – even then it was possible to expect that it will be still loud about him. On the basis of the adventure that this film was, I built my expectations for “Magnesia”.
The scriptwriters take us on a journey into the interwar period and make sure that the plot is full of connections: this is a Polish town on the Polish-Soviet border, where most of the inhabitants make a living from smuggling. The real power in the revier is therefore held by the Lewenfisz family, in which the dangerous Róża (Maja Ostaszewska) takes the helm after the death of her father, who runs the criminal syndicate together with her sisters Lila (Małgorzata Gorol) and Zbroja (Borys Szyc). He wants to switch from trading moonshine to drugs, but before everything starts, Róża has to re-establish relations with, for example, the Lion (Andrzej Chyra) – a Soviet smuggler who wants to match his son with Helena, the daughter of the president of a local bank (Magdalena Boczarska).
The girl, in turn, lives in a close relationship with one of the Huduni brothers. Albert (Dawid Ogrodnik) and Albin (Mateusz Kościukiewicz) are Siamese twins, they run the only photo shop in the area and because of their inborn ailment they are called by everyone a mutant, so they want to get out of the town at any cost. They have an idea for it – of course the illegal genre. In addition, inspector Stanisława Kochaj (Agata Kulesza) comes to town one day, who unexpectedly has to deal with the mystery of a mysterious murder that leads to the discovery mystery from the past of the Lewenfisz family. So much for the plot outline.
Let’s start with the fact that absolute obeisances are due to Dorota Roqueplo for the costumes, Marek Warszewski for the set design, Jan AP Kaczmarek for Hollywood music and Paweł Chorzępa for great photos. They actually created the true atmosphere of the Polish Wild East in the colorful era of the interwar period – “Magnezja” is worth seeing if only to admire their artistry. Let’s not forget about the actors: Maja Ostaszewska is really scary and dangerous, Małgorzata Gorol perfectly portrays a person like a lone gunslinger, Andrzej Chyra has a great feeling for the figure of an old smuggler (make-up and spiced broken teeth also make a great impression – it adds credibility to him in the role of Human lice), Dawid Ogrodnik is great in several of his comedy (and stunt!) scenes, Kościukiewicz is charmingly kind, and Agata Kulesza is a convincing incarnation of a policewoman in the type of a genius investigator and outsider.
It is also absolutely captivating that in this movie in fact, it is full of strong, determined, intelligent and capable women. They are not an addition to the male fairy tale, they have a significant impact on the course of the action. They are cunning, they can be cruel and selfish, and they don’t hesitate to do what they think is right. A nice change.
I admit that I don’t understand a bit why Borys Szyc played a woman. The times when “a peasant dressed as a woman” was the funniest joke in the world are long over (although he had a wonderful fake breasts). I find a potential argument to defend such a casting decision: the character of the Lewensztajn Armor is written in such an exaggerated way that it would not necessarily be a convincing performance for any actress. In fact, the physical attributes of Borys Szyc are of great importance here – a huge stature, muscular paws and great strength. But if this is to be the greatest comedy advantage of “Magnezja”, it is not. Although I admit that the erotic sequence of Borys Szyc and Bartosz Bielenia captivated me precisely thanks to the contrast in their appearance. However, it is still a bit too little to have fun for the last two hours.
Borys Szyc disguised as a woman is not enough to be funny
Well, the comedy in this story is generally not included in the plot, here it is introduced with situational gags almost from the times of “Flip and Flap”: and the priest will kick someone, and we will see someone in the privy, and the big woman will hit some male chuchro, and this peasant rapes a sheep, and someone will fall into poop. When written, it sounds poor, it doesn’t stand out in the film, and most of all it escapes in the multitude of plot threads that are constantly tangled, and in fact extremely dramatic and sad.
Probably that’s why there was no spark between me and “Magnesia”. It’s sad because this movie has everything you need to have a good time. There are twists, interesting characters, killer costumes, amazing make-up, fairy-tale photos, Oscar-winning music, actors absolutely caught up in their pieces of stories, spectacular shootings, impressive brawls, plus criminal intrigues and secrets from the past. All these elements are neat, you can see a lot of love and fun. Only this game did not affect me, the viewer.
At one point I felt a bit weary and sad that I was waiting for the end. Maybe it’s a matter of the fact that in the end the plots and characters were a bit too many, some roles, albeit in the film comedy, were written too dramatically, and the story did not naturally reveal any hero or heroine who could be followed all the time, identified with him, cheered on, or even hoped that eventually everything would work out for him / her. It may also be that, in the end, this crazy Polish eastern is in fact a classic western, in which, for the sake of unrecognization, the gags and Borys Szyc dressed as a peasant woman were pressed to hide that this is a very serious story that someone will always help an innocent . “Magnezja” in Polish cinemas from June 11.
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