Camera Buff
Encyclopedia
Camera Buff is a 1979
Polish
film written and directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski
about a humble factory worker whose newfound hobby, amateur film, becomes an obsession, and transforms his modest and formerly contented life.
, People's Republic of Poland
. It begins with shots of chickens and a hawk catching and plucking one, which later in the film are shown to be a dream the leading protagonist's wife has just experienced. Kieślowski used this technique in many of his films, which he said involved retroactive cognition, where the mind caught up with a scene shown earlier.
Factory worker Filip Mosz (Jerzy Stuhr
) is a nervous new father and a doting husband when he begins filming his daughter's first days with a newly acquired 8mm
movie camera. He believes, as he tells his wife, that he now has everything he ever wanted since his youth as an orphan, but when the local Communist Party boss asks him to film an upcoming jubilee celebration of his plant, his fascination with the possibilities of film begins to transform his life.
When they see his edited short film of the conference/celebration, his superiors find his shot of a pigeon useless and his shots of several negotiators at a business meeting too probing. He submits the film to a festival in another town, and gains third prize.
His responsibilities to his wife and daughter slip off his radar as his gaze fixes on Anna Wlodarczyk (a young, self-described "amatorka" who encourages Filip's filmmaking), various activities he films, and the world of cinephiles.
The Krakow TV station airs Filip's film about a little person ("cripple" or "dwarf" in the English subtitles) who works at the factory and another one about the misallocated town renovation funds. Filip's boss gives him a talking: work on the new nursery school will have to stop because of his expose, and Stasio will lose his job.
After that, Filip gets the canister for his as-yet undeveloped new film about the brickyard, opens it and tosses the film out to be exposed to the light. Alone at home, his wife has left with their daughter, Filip turns his, now 16mm
, camera on himself.
Krzysztof Kieślowski emphasizes the power of film through various scenes in Camera Buff. Filip's moviemaking allows his grieving friend to watch a short clip of his late mother waving from a window and of himself cheerfully driving a hearse and waving to the camera. When he films the story of a diminutive factory worker and then shows him the result, the worker is overcome with emotion by Filip's ability to give voice and an arc to an otherwise unexemplary life. Filip finds that with its ability to create comes film's ability to destroy when he tries to air a film clip of his which aims to quietly expose Party corruption. The clip turns out to be misinformed and results in the dismissal of one of his supporters from his job, an unfortunate consequence of his uninformed reporting, the Party's secrecy, and Communist Poland's culture of censorship.
The film ends with Filip turning the camera on himself, realizing too late that all along he should have reflected on the consequences of his camera obsession on himself, his life, and his family.
, Vincent Canby
argued that " [much] of the film means to be uproariously emotional, but the events we see seldom justify all the overwrought reactions. Mr. Kieślowski also appears to suggest that art - in this case movie making - must be a process by which the artist consumes the raw materials of his experience and then spits them out as finished art, leaving the people around him in the state of gnawed beef bones. This is a vast oversimplification of the creative process and is probably only applicable, really, to the second-rater."
In the extras in the Region 2 Artificial Eye (UK) version of Camera Buff, Kieślowski's friend, Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi
(Director of the Lodz Film School, with Kieslowski his deputy) explains that there was a period before the success of Camera Buff outside Poland, when Kieślowski's work was considered not to travel internationally. Zanussi argues that Kieślowski's work had always had universal appeal, and that the and praise or scorn seemed, to him, to be arbitrary: after Kieślowski was successful in the West, his earlier films were praised as a body together with those films he made in the West -The Double Life of Veronique and the Three Colours films - whereas before they had been mostly damned by western reviewers and critics.
1979 in film
The year 1979 in film involved some significant events.- Major events :* March 5 - Production begins on Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.* May 25 - Alien, a landmark of the science fiction genre, is released....
Polish
Cinema of Poland
The history of cinema in Poland is almost as long as history of cinematography, and it has universal achievements, even though Polish movies tend to be less commercially available than movies from several other European nations....
film written and directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krzysztof Kieślowski was an Academy Award nominated influential Polish film director and screenwriter, known internationally for The Double Life of Veronique and his film cycles The Decalogue and Three Colors.-Early life:...
about a humble factory worker whose newfound hobby, amateur film, becomes an obsession, and transforms his modest and formerly contented life.
Plot summary
The film is set in the late 1970s in WieliceWielice
Wielice is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Lipiany, within Pyrzyce County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland.Before 1945 the area was part of Germany. For the history of the region, see History of Pomerania....
, People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
. It begins with shots of chickens and a hawk catching and plucking one, which later in the film are shown to be a dream the leading protagonist's wife has just experienced. Kieślowski used this technique in many of his films, which he said involved retroactive cognition, where the mind caught up with a scene shown earlier.
Factory worker Filip Mosz (Jerzy Stuhr
Jerzy Stuhr
Jerzy Stuhr is one of the most popular, influential and versatile Polish actors. He also works as a screenwriter, film director and drama professor...
) is a nervous new father and a doting husband when he begins filming his daughter's first days with a newly acquired 8mm
8 mm film
8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight millimeters wide. It exists in two main versions: the original standard 8mm film, also known as regular 8 mm or Double 8 mm, and Super 8...
movie camera. He believes, as he tells his wife, that he now has everything he ever wanted since his youth as an orphan, but when the local Communist Party boss asks him to film an upcoming jubilee celebration of his plant, his fascination with the possibilities of film begins to transform his life.
When they see his edited short film of the conference/celebration, his superiors find his shot of a pigeon useless and his shots of several negotiators at a business meeting too probing. He submits the film to a festival in another town, and gains third prize.
His responsibilities to his wife and daughter slip off his radar as his gaze fixes on Anna Wlodarczyk (a young, self-described "amatorka" who encourages Filip's filmmaking), various activities he films, and the world of cinephiles.
The Krakow TV station airs Filip's film about a little person ("cripple" or "dwarf" in the English subtitles) who works at the factory and another one about the misallocated town renovation funds. Filip's boss gives him a talking: work on the new nursery school will have to stop because of his expose, and Stasio will lose his job.
After that, Filip gets the canister for his as-yet undeveloped new film about the brickyard, opens it and tosses the film out to be exposed to the light. Alone at home, his wife has left with their daughter, Filip turns his, now 16mm
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
, camera on himself.
Cast
- Jerzy StuhrJerzy StuhrJerzy Stuhr is one of the most popular, influential and versatile Polish actors. He also works as a screenwriter, film director and drama professor...
as Filip Mosz - Malgorzata Zabkowska as Irka Mosz
- Ewa Pokas as Anna Wlodarczyk
- Stefan Czyzewski as Director
Analysis
Camera Buff explores censorship in Communist Poland and its repression of the individual's expression of his observations. Filip also confronts the consequences of a man who discovers new possibilities and finds his former world, which had been so fulfilling before he'd discovered more, rendered dull, old, and limited.Krzysztof Kieślowski emphasizes the power of film through various scenes in Camera Buff. Filip's moviemaking allows his grieving friend to watch a short clip of his late mother waving from a window and of himself cheerfully driving a hearse and waving to the camera. When he films the story of a diminutive factory worker and then shows him the result, the worker is overcome with emotion by Filip's ability to give voice and an arc to an otherwise unexemplary life. Filip finds that with its ability to create comes film's ability to destroy when he tries to air a film clip of his which aims to quietly expose Party corruption. The clip turns out to be misinformed and results in the dismissal of one of his supporters from his job, an unfortunate consequence of his uninformed reporting, the Party's secrecy, and Communist Poland's culture of censorship.
The film ends with Filip turning the camera on himself, realizing too late that all along he should have reflected on the consequences of his camera obsession on himself, his life, and his family.
Criticism
In The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
argued that " [much] of the film means to be uproariously emotional, but the events we see seldom justify all the overwrought reactions. Mr. Kieślowski also appears to suggest that art - in this case movie making - must be a process by which the artist consumes the raw materials of his experience and then spits them out as finished art, leaving the people around him in the state of gnawed beef bones. This is a vast oversimplification of the creative process and is probably only applicable, really, to the second-rater."
In the extras in the Region 2 Artificial Eye (UK) version of Camera Buff, Kieślowski's friend, Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi
Krzysztof Zanussi
Krzysztof Zanussi, is a Polish producer and film director.He is a professor of European film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland where he conducts a summer workshop...
(Director of the Lodz Film School, with Kieslowski his deputy) explains that there was a period before the success of Camera Buff outside Poland, when Kieślowski's work was considered not to travel internationally. Zanussi argues that Kieślowski's work had always had universal appeal, and that the and praise or scorn seemed, to him, to be arbitrary: after Kieślowski was successful in the West, his earlier films were praised as a body together with those films he made in the West -The Double Life of Veronique and the Three Colours films - whereas before they had been mostly damned by western reviewers and critics.