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BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN
Director: Radu Jude Cast: Katia Pascariu, Claudia Ieremia, Olimpia Malai, Nicodim Ungureanu, Alexandru Potocean, Andi Vasluianu MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:46 Release Date: 11/19/21 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | November 18, 2021 Divided into three distinct parts (four, if one counts the extended montage of scenes of hardcore sex that opens the movie), Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn is mainly a multi-part assault on various sensibilities. The story isn't non-existent, but it is, for the most part, irrelevant. Writer/director Radu Jude's movie is part documentary about life during the ongoing pandemic, part treatise on vastly diverse subjects (from Romania's role in the Holocaust to oral sex, with a slew of thoughts before, after, and in between), and finally a talkative dissection of moral panic and the terrible politics that lie beneath it. Narratively, the movie is inconsistent, but that seems to be a major element of Jude's intent. He wants to be uncomfortable, whether we're watching that opening sequence of teacher Emi (Katia Pascariu) making a homemade sex tape with her husband or, in the second part, observing as she wanders around Bucharest, with no apparent goal or destination in mind. What we do learn, in terms of a story, is that the sex tape somehow made its way online, and the headmistress (Claudia Ieremia) of the school is planning a meeting with parents to determine Emi's fate as a teacher. Tensions are high throughout the city, and Jude, keeping his camera at a distance, seems to capture real moments of verbal abuse and one instance of physical violence during Emi's aimless trek. It's fascinating to an extent, and such moments establish the immediate mindset of the impromptu tribunal that's to come. Before that, though, Jude takes us through the dictionary in the third section, making stops at various words to offer his thoughts on topics like pornography and history (specifically Romania's past during World War II and under Communism) and filmmaking itself. Once the final act arrives, with parents berating Emi (and revealing some other atrocious beliefs) and Emi pointing out their hypocrisy (with characters sometimes reciting philosophers and academics from their phones), we start to wonder if the over-the-top story is interrupting a more thoughtful documentary or vice versa. That we're not sure might also be an aspect of Jude's point with Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, since the movie ends—after a particularly ridiculous and third possible ending to Emi's story—with a tongue-in-cheek ditty about the intent of imagery. Whatever the filmmaker is actually attempting here, though, remains too much a mystery. Copyright © 2021 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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