We live in a censorious world. Debates about what is obscene, vulgar, or otherwise permissible or impermissible arise regularly in our public discourse. Beyond the question of whether certain behavior is loathsome or unacceptable, lurk the perplexing issues of whether there should be a line between public and private behavior and of how we should deal with the people who are guilty of acting in the disapproved way.
The controversies often have to do with language usage – such as use in public media of certain words, such as the “F-word” (more of an issue in days gone by) or (in most all contexts) of the “N-word”; similarly proscribed is speech promoting racist, anti-Semitic or misogynistic viewpoints. But it’s not just about words: people become very upset about publication of images that they consider profane (cartoon images of the Prophet Muhammad in a magazine as one notorious example or a museum exhibition of Serrano’s famous/infamous photo of a cross in urine as another). People also decry the depiction in motion pictures or on tv of subjects they deem to be unfit - like gruesome violence or smoking cigarettes.
And of course, there is pornography, famously difficult to define, but you’d know it if you ever saw it of course. Or would you?
Which brings us to the new Romanian comedy-satire Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn – not exactly a title that rolls off the tongue – an irreverent movie that examines and sharply exposes our nutty, sanctimonious, hypocritical attitudes about sex, morality and responsibility. I intentionally use the word “our” because, although the film comes from a Romanian writer director, its implicit and explicit messages apply equally to our American society if not more so.
The movie begins abruptly, before any credits begin to roll, with a three-minute segment showing a couple shagging, aka screwing, banging or, to put it most crudely and accurately, fucking. Not soft-core sex scene by any means, but a very explicit, uncensored home video. We were watching with some friends, expecting to see a new foreign feature film, all of us thinking –
What the hell? There must be some mistake! How can we be we watching porn? I thought this was supposed to be a critically acclaimed film!Well, yes and yes. As I said, this opening bit, although short, is shockingly, um, let’s say “frank”. To give you an idea, the US film rating system, the MPAA, required some edits be made to
Bad Luck Banging in order to bestow its most restrictive rating: NC-17. These edits were not made, so the film has been released
un-rated. On the other hand, the movie is named on the 2021 “ten best films” lists of numerous critics, receiving a 90% positive critical rating on
Rotten Tomatoes. Regarding the banging opening scene, Justin Chang of the LA Times writes: “It is one of the more arresting movie prologues to come along in a while, executed with an eye toward jolting even the most jaded viewer out of their cinematic complacency.” The picture won the prestigious
Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival last year (the Berlinale’s equivalent to the
Oscar for best picture), and is also Romania’s
Oscar entry in the “Best International Feature” category.
Okay, so while this picture is undoubtedly controversial (and not exclusively for its sexual content), is it obscene? Simply put, no – not if we use the definition set out by the US Supreme court which requires three things: a work to be “prurient” [defined by the OED as “lascivious, lewd; exhibiting an excessive or inappropriate concern with sexual matters”] + “completely” devoid of scientific, political, educational value + violative of local community standards. In fact, Bad Luck Banging's three-minute prologue provides a totally apt foundation for the subsequent story and is cental to the fundamental point of the film - a critical examination of society’s vulgar and hypocritical ideas about morality.
The story: after the credits do roll, the film is split into three distinct parts. In the first, announced with a silly comedic jingle and brightly colored inter-title, we meet Emilia, known as Emi, a well-regarded history teacher in a prestigious private secondary school. Emi (Katia Pascario) seems to be a very bright and serious person - not particularly striking in appearance, dressed in a white blouse and a conservative gray suit whose skirt falls a few inches below her knees. She is striding determinedly, somewhat grimly perhaps, through Bucharest, periodically talking on her mobile phone. It’s hard to believe that this is the same woman who ardently participated in that opening scene. The homemade sex video has gotten onto the internet – how is a bit unclear - and word has gotten out to the school. She speaks to her husband, to her supervisor, and a few others about what happened. She’s told that parents are seething with outrage. She will have to attend a parent-teacher meeting – hopefully to defuse the situation.
Mostly, though, she walks and walks, pausing at a shop window or for a quick cup of coffee now and then. There is considerable vehicular and pedestrian traffic, truck engines roaring, horns sounding, crude verbal altercations, commercial advertising with sexually suggestive come-ons, signs with nationalist propaganda, graffiti – overall an unattractive and vulgar urban tour that goes on for a good half hour or more. While this section of the film is interesting and useful to some extent, it is also overlong - thus somewhat dull and off-putting. In fact, my fellow viewers decided to watch something else after about twenty-five minutes. But wait! It gets better.
The second part, again announced with a jingle and inter-title, is an abrupt change of pace - a short, stimulating montage - ten minutes or so - of a great variety of images: wartime footage of battles, rubble, death, genocide, etc.; dumb tv ads for dumb consumer products; bombastic patriotic speeches; man on the street grievances about the Roma, immigrants and other minorities; shots of environmental degradation; misogynistic images and bits from all sorts of media; some animation; and a bunch of other stuff which, cumulatively (and entertainingly), promote the notion that everyday life is full of things far more offensive and obscene than a married couple’s enthusiastic lovemaking.
The third and most dramatic part of
Bad Luck Banging (with jingle and inter-title intro) returns us to Emi, as she finishes her walk and arrives at her school, where a crowd of parents have gathered for the so-called “conversation”. It feels more like a lynching. One vociferous parent insists on showing the video “so we all know what this is about” (although most everyone has already seen it); and Emi must endure this humiliation. But when her self-righteous antagonists start slinging their accusations of indecency, Emi is no patsy. She defends herself brilliantly and vociferously. When it is suggested that through the internet, “her” video is polluting the minds and morals of her teenage students, Emi turns the tables and points out the parents’ hypocrisy: it is they who are responsible, they who have given them internet access and unblocked phones. It is a disquieting and at the same time
enthralling confrontation. An encounter that just as easily could take place in Anytown USA.
Ms Paskariu, as Emi, is simply terrific in this culminating act. Simmering inside
but cool, yet passionately persuasive on the outside. Determined to be heard, refusing to be shamed. Expressing her outrage with intelligence and conviction.
In his notes about this picture, Bad Luck Banging’s writer-director, Radu Jude, has said “We are used to acts which are more obscene, in a way, than the small acts which set off the uproar we see in the film. … The so-called obscenity in the porn video is nothing compared with what is around us that we don’t pay attention to.”
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn starts out slow but builds to a heck of a conclusion. How does it turn out? With a very creative and funny “trick” ending that you’ll have to see for yourself.
Emotionally and intellectually stimulating, comical and thought provoking, Bad Luck Banging is subtitled “A Sketch for a Popular Film”. Due to the explicit sex, this obviously is not for everyone - to be "popular" and reach a broad audience, director Jude would certainly need to soften up the sex and tighten up the first act considerably. On balance, I think I prefer the rough edges and so does he.
106 minutes Unrated [see above]
Grade: B+
This film is currently in very limited release in the USA. In the Bay Area it opens on January 22, 2022 at San Francisco’s Roxie Theater (and possibly Oakland’s New Parkway Theater, which is temporarily closed as of this writing). It will also begin streaming on that date via Roxie’s Virtual Cinema (details here). To find out if it is or will be playing in a theater near you, check local listings or click here to check the film’s official site.
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