Camera Buff by Krzysztof Kieślowski

Category: Non-English

Oh boy, this film is worth every cent or paise you can spend on. They say a true mark of a director is how he performs in his first film, Krzysztof Kieślowski's debut film is based on a humble factory worker who at his daughters birth buys a 8mm camera. The new found acquisition soon transforms into an obsession. He's soon filming everything but with what consequence? Do film-makers really film reality? Does a film-maker have a social responsibility? These are really hard questions that I am sure everyone who is attached with cinema must have thought of at some point or another. Kieślowski does as well but in the film he's trying to provide some answers, although he raises even more questions in the bargain. This film is for the people who want to speculate and discuss movies.

Krzysztof Kieślowski takes on all these questions, and what memorable images he leaves in our mind. The film takes such a haunting turn when - frustrated by his antics his wife departs from Mosz (the Camera Buff) he even makes a unique pose which in many ways talks about the transient quality of cinema or films. I could really go on, but the most intense part is undoubtedly the end. Most people might miss the significance, I hope you don't. Then there's also the upgrade from 8mm to 16mm... Oh boy.

Recommendation level: 5/5. Maybe it's just me but this movie has really got me thinking, for the first time in a while I am thinking about this film and the significance of the images Kieślowski shows us.