2 Best Movies to Watch by Michał Balicki

At first glance, 1670 seems to be a historical drama, with the actors dressed in fairly historically accurate attire, and the show being set in the titular year, just around after the late Middle Ages. However, the first few scenes disabuse us of the notion, as the eccentric Jan Paweł routinely breaks the fourth wall in order to introduce us to the family. While the sets and the costumes are of its time, the approach and events are not, as 1670 plays out like a reality TV show, with candid shots and interviews introducing the weird and fame-obsessed village inhabitants, satirically depicting modern day scenarios with a historical flair. While some of the jokes seem Polish-specific and they rely on breaking the fourth wall a bit too often, 1670 is a funny reminder of how good things currently are, and how silly we remain, through resituating modern petty grievances in medieval times.

Genre: Comedy

Actor: Bartłomiej Topa, Katarzyna Herman, Martyna Byczkowska, Michał Balicki, Michał Sikorski

Director: Kordian Kądziela

Operating in a similar style and speed as the Safdie Brothers’ Good Time and Uncut Gems, Freestyle gives us a peek into the seedy underbelly of Poland through the eyes of Diego, a smalltime muscian who slides back into his drug dealing ways when he finds himself short on money. On the sensory front, Freestyle is a thrilling experience. Diego charges the film with palpable anxiety, Kraków’s underground community lights it up in dizzying neon, and the local hip-hop scene backs it with exciting new sounds. It’s a technical feat, but stripped of these elements, Freestyle is nothing more than a predictable crime thriller populated with predictable characters, many of whom, by the way, are thrown in at random points in the movie so that it often gets confusing and infuriating to watch. Despite potentially having something to say about the apathy of youth or the glaring discrepancy between social classes, Freestyle seems solely interested in being a slick crime thriller that has its characters run around in circles to save themselves. It looks good and sounds even better, but without anything substantial holding it up, Freestyle fails to relay an authentic sense of relevance and urgency.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Actor: Artur Krajewski, Filip Lipiecki, Hana Nobis, Juliusz Chrząstowski, Krzysztof Zarzecki, Maciej Musiałowski, Michał Balicki, Michał Sikorski, Nel Kaczmarek, Olek Krupa, Patrik Vrbovský, Roman Gancarczyk, Zofia Kowalewska

Director: Maciej Bochniak

2 Best Movies to Watch by Michał Balicki

1. 1670, 2023

2. Freestyle, 2023