Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn: Film Review
Although I’d heard positive reactions about Radu Jude‘s sex comedy, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, I had a feeling I wouldn’t like it as I absolutely detest the title. I tried to keep an open mind but as expected, it was not my cup of tea.
This Romanian film, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, follows teacher Emi (Katia Pascariu) after the sex tape she made with her husband goes viral.
I liked the concept and thought it would be the perfect set-up for a comedy but I came away not only disappointed but taken aback by what I had just watched. This is a bold, ballsy, absurd and provocative film that isn’t particularly funny at all. Sure, it has a light-hearted tone and feels very satirical but I don’t recall laughing much. It has a lot to say about attitudes to sex and how women are held to a different standard than men but I just didn’t enjoy how these points were presented.
It’s a lot to take in, right from the get-go. The film opens with the sex tape in all its explicit glory (you’ve been warned). I was relieved when that ended and the movie properly began but soon felt disappointed as the first chapter basically consists of us just watching Emi running errands around town with only small chunks of it involving the sex tape scandal. It’s so slow, meandering and there are so many lingering shots of buildings and traffic. I quickly got bored.
But that pales in comparison to chapter two, a section titled “a short dictionary of anecdotes, signs and wonders”. It’s essentially a 20-minute plus montage of random things, and I’m not gonna lie to you, I fell asleep! I didn’t get the point of it at all.
Things look up with chapter three, in which Emi attends a conference at the school so parents can discuss whether she should be fired over her tape. There were some interesting discussions showing outdated or sexist attitudes towards women and sex but it goes on a bit and descended into a lot of name-calling. However, I liked how Emi stood her ground and defended herself and remained empowered throughout. Shame the ending is so WTF; my jaw actually dropped.
As you can tell, this film was not at all one for me. I didn’t find it funny and it was so random, weird and absurd that it undercut a lot of the points it was trying to make.
In cinemas Friday 26th November