Although filmmaker Bodo Kox’s Polish exercise in futurist pessimism is a triumph of CGI technology, its combination of nostalgia and social entropy at the heart of the narrative strikes a dissonant note that reverberates uncomfortably throughout the film. With obvious nods to everyone from Philip K. Dick to Andrei Tarkovsky, the story is set in mid-21st-century Warsaw, centering on a man named Adam (Piotr Polak), who wakes up one morning to realize that he’s a corporate maintenance worker drone and has no recollection of how this became his vocation of choice—in fact, he has no recollection of anything at all. Adam strikes up a steamy fling with his attitudinal manager Goria (Olga Boladz), and the pair engage in mechanical sex romps both at the office and in private. But soon Adam comes across a vintage radio from the 1950s that seems to have some rather odd characteristics: namely, serving as a time-traveling portal to his forgotten past. The gray futuristic urban bleakness portrayed here is no shock: it’s a predictably inhuman imaginary world in which everything is coldly automated and computerized, including human relationships. But the film’s simplistic premise—that nostalgic escapism is the only answer to our future problems—does not make for a compelling cinematic dystopian experience. Optional. (M. Sandlin)
The Man with the Magic Box
Artsploitation, 103 min., in Polish w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.99 Volume 34, Issue 4
The Man with the Magic Box
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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