Bad Luck Banging or Loony p*rn [RSC Film Club 46]

[LimeGreenLegend 4,173]

This month the film club was open choice, and the first of the two films selected is Radu Jude's confrontational and explicit Bad Luck Banging or Loony p*rn. 

This film stars Katia Pascariu as teacher Emi whose s*x tape that she makes with her husband is somehow leaked online.  Kids in her class see it and she is quickly summoned before a group of teachers and parents who are to decide if she's fit to be a teacher.  Told in three distinct acts, this is the very definition of confrontational cinema, with it opening with the McGuffin of a s*x tape in all of its glory. 

But the real meat of the film is the meeting to decide Emi's fate, things getting more and more heated as Emi's s*x life and her moral fibre are thrust into the spotlight as if it's anyone else's business. 

Like I said in the main film club post, some of you may not want to see what is ostensibly amateur p*rnography, so I'll make that warning very clear now:

!WARNING! This film contains scenes of graphic, un-simulated, real f*cking, with er*ct c*ck and full p*netration and oral s*x and all of that stuff.  You have been warned.  !WARNING END!

 

the world is sinking in the ocean of time which is infested with crocodiles called death and decrepitude

[Sinister 2,578]

Looking online shows that this movie is available in a censored and uncensored versions.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,173]

8 hours ago, Sinister said:

Looking online shows that this movie is available in a censored and uncensored versions.

That's interesting, I didn't have that option when I watched it through the BFI Player on Amazon Prime.  

[Sinister 2,578]

On 8/9/2022 at 6:12 AM, LimeGreenLegend said:

That's interesting, I didn't have that option when I watched it through the BFI Player on Amazon Prime.  

I didn’t attempt to watch it anywhere. When I searched for it some stuff popped up about a censored version putting graphics over all the explicit parts. Could be full of crap though like lots of stuff on the internet.

 

Not gonna lie, I like p*rn and would watch it as it is, lol.
 

[djw180 6,836]

A wonderful film. All the short descriptions of this say something like 'Emi, a schoolteacher discovers a video of her and her husband having s*x has been put online and some parents at her school want her to be sacked'. But that isn't really what this film is. It doesn't have the usual type of plot. That description is just the background story really. This is more a satirical critique of modern life; racism, sexism, personal freedom, attitudes to s*x, COVID, etc etc.

 

It's made in 3 main scenes each about 30 mins long, with some other short scenes as an intro (making the s*x video) or in-between the main three.

 

The first scene shows Emi (Katia Pascariu) walking through Bucharest on her way to school to attend the a meeting the head teach has called with the parents. I've never been to Romania so I don't know if this is showing Bucharest accurately or Emi is just passing through some particularly run down parts of the city. But along the way we see and hear various other residents chatting, arguing etc.

 

The second scene is something totally original (for me at least). It almost has nothing to do with the 'plot' at all. It's a series of stills or short videos on various topics which are described in text at the same time. Some of these are relevant to the rest of the film, some not quite so. Although some do seem like the director acknowledging most people watching do not know a lot about Romania so he is giving us some background information. Other seems totally random. But they are all fascinating none-the-less. Topics in this scene include (and I don't remember exactly what they are all called in the film) 'p*rnography', 'bl*w job', 'pavement', 'the 1989 revolution', 'Romania's national poet', ' The Ceaucescu Palace (referring to the palace of the dictator deposed in the 1989 revolution)', 'close up' and many more.

 

The third scene is Emi facing the parents. This is the only scene that is anything like a standard telling-a-story type of film. Most parents seem against her, condemning her for the video whilst conveniently overlooking how it is their kids have managed to get access to the video that was never meant to be public. They are full of prejudice, not just against Emi but various other groups of people as well.

 

Then the final scenes (or is it really one split into 3 parts again?), quite short. I won't spoil it. Is it the best ending to a film ever? I'll sit on the fence and say it is impossible to compare completely different styles of film in this way, so that's a question you can't really answer. This is a very unique style of film and the ending is brilliant and certainly of the best ever film endings.

Overall it is a very, very good, very original film. It is a comedy but not the laughing-out-loud sort of comedy, but more a bizarre-situations sort of comedy. Katia Pascariu is very good. It's very well directed.

 

9/10