117. Kobiety Mafii; movie review

KOBIETY MAFII
Cert 18
138 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody violence, sexual violence, very strong language

Another film from Eastern Europe and another film which gives too much concentration on gratuitous violence and women's top halves.
Kobiety Mafii is one of the most popular movies to come out of Poland in recent years but I certainly did not get as much out of it as the native speakers in the audience at Nottingham Cineworld.
Indeed, I found that, because it had too many strands and flicked with great haste from one scene to another, it gave me a headache.
This is a film in which women are meant to hold the upper hand but I couldn't help wondering why they were forever showing off their body parts and the 'stupid' men didn't.
Anyway, Patryk Vega's film stars Olga Boladz as an unconventional police officer who agrees to take up and undercover assignment, infiltrating the Polish mafia.
Thus, she poses as a prostitute in an attempt to gain the trust of a crimelord (Boguslaw Linda) and his  spoilt daughter (Julia Wieniawa).
Meanwhile, she also inveigles herself with the other heads of the mafia (Piotr Stramowski, Tomasz Oswiecinski, Sebastian Fabijanski and Aleksandra Poplawska).
However, things become more complicated by one of their obsessive wives (Katarzyna Warnke) and her enigmatic nanny (Agnieszka Dygant).
Much of the action takes place in Warsaw but it also flicks to the Costa Del Sol where money seems to be even less of an object.
The mafia guys seems to be having it all their own way until their infiltrator creates suspicion among them and gradually grinds them down.
Meanwhile, the impact on her own domestic life is devastating.
As said, I am aware of Kobiety Mafii's box office success but I felt that there were myriad reasons why it didn't grip me.
Number one was its lack of subtlety. Its male characters are meatheads and even its female ones lack complexity.
Number two is its speed. It moves from scene to scene far too quickly and, consequently, there is no room for deep dialogue to enable character exploration and, therefore, little motional pull.
I accept that it might be funnier to those who understand Polish and don't have to rely on subtitles but I have seen many great films which manage to overcome this barrier.

Reasons to watch: A gritty, black comedy
Reasons to avoid: Its violence and over-keenness on top halves

Laughs: A couple of chuckles from me but many laughs from native speakers
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 4.5/10

The big question - Why are eastern countries so culturally different to the West with regard to sex jokes?

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