Cast: Krzysztof Baginski, Michal Huszcza, Eva Lebuef. Screenplay: Michal Marczak, Katarzyna Szczerba. Cinematography: Michal Marczak, Maciej Twardowski. Film editing: Dorota Wardeszkiewicz. Music: Lubomir Grzelak.
Youth, the adage goes, is wasted on the young. In All These Sleepless Nights, Michal Marczak’s pseudo-documentary, the young are hell-bent on wasting it. The film centers on two Warsaw art students, Krzysztof Baginski and Michal Huszcza, playing themselves in scenes both spontaneous and scripted, along with Eva Lebuef, the ex-girlfriend of Michal and the new girlfriend – at least for a while – of Kris. They lead a hedonistic life, with drug-taking and sex and cigarette smoking and partying, with only occasional reflections that this life can’t last. There’s only fleeting interaction with older adults and no indication that there is a price to be paid for self-indulgence – indeed, they seem to have unlimited means, as the apartment with the spectacular view that Kris lives in very much suggests. But this isn’t a moralizing movie: The tone is very much on the side of carpe diem. The ephemerality of this way of life is symbolically represented by the fireworks display at the film’s beginning, but there’s no hint of burnout in the story. Only near the end is there a scene that suggests self-awareness, as Kris does a bit of performance art in a public park, dressed as an Easter bunny and speaking via loudspeaker to passers-by, including an elderly couple whom he praises for their closeness and endurance. But then at film’s end he’s practicing dance moves in the middle of traffic, living on the edge. There’s no story to grab onto, and the film sometimes stretched my patience, but as an immersion into other lives it’s worthy of attention.
