Scumbag

An unexpected smash from Slovakia that hit me right between the eyes and quite possibly the best domestic film of the last few years. Scumbag is a gangster drama, where everything works exactly as it should. Jozef Vajda plays the mafioso absolutely convincingly and I'm surprised that the film is mere fiction in the end. There's a rotten political system, human trafficking, forced sex, drugs, murder, backstabbing, journalists. I was absolutely blown away by the film's qualities, and Scumbag takes it to a European level, close to Italian or French gangster films. For lovers of mafia films it is almost a must. Story****, Action>No, Humor>No, Violence***, Entertainment*****, Music***, Visual****, Atmosphere****, Suspense****. 8/10. (20/05/2020)

It took sufficiently intense political frustration and social shock, but we got there. Slovakia has started to dust off the forgotten tradition of czechsploitation. Almost everything from that category can be found here – the impatience and disgust of the filmmakers with current conditions, the complete dehumanization of the negative characters, people as caricatures, the quota for goats met within twenty minutes, and the hastiness due to the need to send the film to the cinemas before Kuciak's body got cold. Then again, such urgency is not so unusual among Slovaks, if we recall (ha? who?) Devínsky masaker. Most of all, the film suffers from the performances, where in the shadow of events that were still fresh, the filmmakers are clearly afraid of portraying the bad guys as insufficiently evil or the positive characters as insufficiently sympathetic martyrs. Like, for example, the scene where the ugly fat mobster and the arrogant corrupt orphanage director-slash-pimp have sex and sigh, "Ave ty" and "Ave já." (probably a Slovakian mafia variation on the dreadful Czech "good on ya" and "good on me") recalls the golden days of the nonsensical lesbian sex between the evil nurses in Renč's debut. Nevertheless, Vajda does his half Depardieu, half Pesci mob boss thing pretty well, and I'm kind of sorry that his Wagner probably won't be dragged into some purely genre crime spin-off where he'd be a great fit. Then again, that one could be made by Solčanská, who already showed with her previous film that she can work within budget constraints, emphasize certain production values, and emulate the style of Western crime films well, which makes it not at all difficult to watch her films, but at the same time stands as a barrier between being a total explosive unleashing and not a completely hysterical indulgence. Which is a pity. (22/05/2020)

Dès le départ, les cinéastes s’épargnent les ennuis en précisant que si par hasard, les spectateurs et spectatrices décèlent une quelconque familiarité dans les personnages, les histoires et les situations, ce n’est qu’illusion, car le tout est entièrement fictif. On pensera ce qu’on veut, mais ça représente pourtant la réalité et pas seulement slovaque, mais également tchécoslovaque, voire européenne. Chaque pays a son Wagner. Jozef Vajda est top, Diana Mórová est excellente et Gabriela Marcinková est douce et sexy – même en tant que croqueuse de diamants. (01/03/2021)

Slovak filmmakers certainly cannot be denied the courage with which they constantly try to expose the dishonest practices of the representatives of the local political scene. However, the film Scumbag seems a bit far-fetched to me. With the case of the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová known to anyone who reads the daily press or occasionally watches television news in this part of the world, I see no reason to alert viewers at the outset that this is a fictional story. There are some inconsistencies, but this is quite understandable in the interest of maintaining the drama. The biggest problem I see is that the plot branches out in too many directions, yet everything is rushed out all at once as if in one breath, resulting in a complete lack of emotional connection in the storytelling. If the filmmakers planned to make people disgusted with the political situation in the country, they really succeeded. However, the very essence of all this effort seems to have been lost, and that is the violent death of two young people, to whom nothing and no one can bring life back. (65%) (23/03/2021)