Bad luck = Zezowate szczescie [NTSC]

This highly amusing and barbed Polish satire recounts twenty years in the life of Jan Piszczyk, a hapless everyman, whose life is marred by misfortune and bad timing. In an extended flashback sequence Jan first tells of his harassment at the hands of taunting schoolboys, and a disastrous spell at boy scouts. Despite living with his dismissive and draconian father, Jan senses the tide has turned when he falls for a student he is tutoring. But alas it is not to be - his romantic life is marred by accidental involvement in student fascist politics and he is harassed continuously when mistaken for a Jew. Jan joins the army, in the hope of impressing women but is called up when WWII erupts, erroneously arrested when he dons another’s uniform, and mercilessly ridiculed and ostracised when taken for a spy by fellow POWs. Jan’s failure at adaptation, in a rapidly changing world, leads to increasing alienation from his fellow man and a continuous lament at his fate or ‘bad luck’ that dogs him. With an episodic structure, and utilising an inventive soundscape, not dissimilar to that of Jacques Tati, the film establishes a gently mocking tone that is not only humorous but also decidedly sardonic. In Polish with English subtitles.