Bad Luck

Polish director Andrzej Munk died in a car crash in 1961 at the age of 39, and his work has never received the attention it deserves (although his 1958 film Eroica is widely recognized). 1960's Bad Luck is a black comedy about an obsequious little Everyman whose desperate efforts to fit in, from his school days through World War II and the postwar communist world, repeatedly lead to disaster. Bogumil Kobiela, whose long face and loping gait make him resemble a shorter Danny Kaye, catches the character's changing fortunes with a fine mixture of humor and melancholy, and Munk fashions each of the individual episodes with considerable elegance, employing different visual styles to set them apart (the high school opening, for example, mimics a silent movie). The director also uses rather simple camera tricks--varying film speeds, comic edits--and a brassy music score by Jan Krenz to jazz things up. But Bad Luck is more than just a bittersweet piece about an unfortunate klutz; viewed more broadly, it's a metaphor for the vicissitudes of 20th-century Polish history, so it's understandable why the communist regime found it troublesome upon its initial release. DVD extras include a director's bio. [Note: Munk's Eroica and Man on the Tracks are also available.] Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)