"Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn" -- Movie Review

 

This weekend at The New York Film Festival, I attended the U.S. Premiere of the new Romanian comedy-drama, “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”. 

Synopsis

When it is discovered that a schoolteacher has a sex video on the Internet, will she lose her job, her reputation and her husband?

Story

Emi is frantic.  As a highly-regarded high school teacher in Bucharest, she suddenly finds that both her career and reputation are at risk because she and her husband Eugen made a sex video, which he uploaded to the Internet.  Although he eventually took it down, it was too late because the damage had been done.  Not only have people in the community already found out about it (and in some cases viewed it), others saw it too – and they downloaded the video, posting it to other Web sites, including PornHub.  While her husband is apologetic, Emi tries to cover up for him by telling people that it was the mischievous technicians at the repair shop who uploaded the video when the computer was brought in to have a problem fixed. 

Although she has a small but loyal support group, Emi has been officially warned that she must face a tribunal that will decide her fate.  The tribunal will be held at the school where she teaches and led by the school’s headmistress.  Attending will be parents of her current and former students as well as community activists who will hear not only the accusations but also Emi’s side of the story before voting on how things should be handled.  Emi will have no representation, so she will have to speak on her own behalf and provide reasons why she should ultimately keep her job. 

Upon the evening of the hearing, the headmistress discusses the reason why they are all gathered together and shows Emi’s video to everyone.  Before letting Emi speak, the headmistress reminds those gathered that Emi has been teaching at the school for a very long time and until now, has had no incidents.  In fact, the parents are reminded of the fact that Emi is such a good teacher that she has sent many of her students to various academic competitions.  With this in mind, can the community afford to lose such a valuable asset or will cooler heads prevail and consider some kind of alternative punishment?     

Review

During the introduction of this screening, it was noted that this film had perhaps the best title of any being shown at the festival.  That’s certainly true, but it is also the bawdiest movie to be shown here; at times, it is so explicit that you almost feel as though you’re watching actual pornography – there is not only nudity but also scenes where penetration between the actors appears to occur.  As a result, “Bad Banging” may not necessarily be a motion picture for every taste, especially if you are offended by such things – despite its occasional absurdities, it does tend to make some valid points politically, socially and culturally. 

If you're exceptionally open-minded and can appreciate going on something of a wild ride, then you may want to consider watching “Bad Banging”.  The story is told in three chapters, to go with the traditional three-act story telling structure.  That’s about where its adherence to customary filmmaking ends.  While the first and third acts deal directly with the teacher’s issue, the second act takes something of a detour in an attempt to display the hypocrisy of the disproportionate focus on her story in comparison to more urgent matters currently facing the country.  This going a bit off-track may be somewhat frustrating for the audience, but again, you really have to fasten your seatbelt when it comes to this one.   

Following the screening, there was an interview with director Radu Jude; since he was unable to travel to New York City, he conducted the interview remotely over the Internet from Romania.  Jude said that he got the inspiration for this movie from a tabloid story that made the rounds in Romania a few years ago.  While he saw the issue as relatively trivial, it got quite a bit of attention from the media due to its salacious nature.  What he found disturbing about this is that there were many more serious matters that he felt the country should be dealing with but weren’t getting anywhere near the notoriety in the national news.