Dark Crimes: An homage to polishcore

"Dark Crimes" is a movie from 2016. It stars Jim Carrey and Charlotte Gainsbourg, but also Marton Csokas, Kati Outinen, and a handful of renowned Polish actors (Robert Więckiewicz, Agata Kulesza, or Zbigniew Zamachowski), which you might not know if you're not into Polish cinema or didn't live in Poland for 3 decades. But those are solid actors. The movie tells a story of Tadek, a policeman who had some sort of problems and is on an unspecified probation, but who investigates despite that a cold case after finding a clue in an audiobook he's been listening to. This is actually inspired by real events where a killer self-published a book describing details that only he could have known, which led to his arrest and sentencing [sic!].

But that's not why I watched the film in the first place. There are so many Polish actors here because the action is set in Poland and was shot in Poland; namely, in Cracow, where I am from. So, I wanted to see a movie where Jim Carrey is in Nowa Huta, my district. In the end, I think they shot it generally in Cracow, and I didn't recognise a single place, but it's a big city. But it felt very familiar. In the course of the movie, I also realised that I vaguely remembered the case of the aforementioned writer who self-incriminated himself (what a dud!).

The movie currently holds 0% approval rate on Rotten Tomates, so in theory, it should not be a good movie; or worse, that it's a very bad movie. And I am not going to defend it (althought, I'll take an effort of re-interpreting it at the end). But I really liked it. I am not sure if for the reasons planned by its creators, but who cares. The reasons why I liked the movie was the atmosphere and overall visuals.

Polishcore

There is an aesthetic called polishcore. It's not that common, as I've seen it being used only a little so far, but it seems to be growing, which makes sense because more people learn about it and start using it. It's only new due to the fact that it was named somewhat recently, but it's been out there for years. All the pictures of post-communist dwellings and apartment blocks and streets, but also clothes and house decorations and furniture and choice of colours. There is a characteristic set of those elements that are used by people/artists that consciously reach for polishcore, and "Dark Crimes" takes freely from these visuals to build it's identity.

What is unique about "Dark Crimes" is that it was done by foreigners, which added a twist to it and freed it from its own context. I read years ago that the U.S. citizens like non-U.S. artists to picture (either through film or other means) their country because it gives them a look from the outside. Something similar happened here. While there was a lot of Poles involved in production (for instance, choice of locations must have come from someone local), the final look was put together by Alexandros Avranas, a Greek director (and there are no reports of executive meddling).

A rare, outsider look on Poland and it's grayish aesthetics. Who could pass on it?

Inconsistencies

This has an interesting consequence of some elements being used "wrong." For instance, at some point, Tadek is at home and walks around in shoes. You would never walk in shoes around the house, unless you were already dressed to go out and realised that you forgot something, which is the only excuse. The weather in Poland, especially in November, when it was shot and when the weather looks like in the movie, is rainy and this would mean bringing mud onto the floors and carpets, etc. Our moms and grandmas would chase us relentlessly for not taking our shoes off.

Similar observation goes to Jim Carrey's clothes. On a surface, it's plausible, but no one would wear turtleneck sweater to a blazer.

Another thing is while it's all gloomy, it's actually a little too gloomy, which tells me it was a conscious choice. Not only clothes are too grayish and black, but also cars. There is not a single colourful car in the movie! And it's not a mistake, it's a choice. A very good one, if you ask me.

There is even a joke about Polish palette. This is not true, but it falls into polishcore.

Fig. 1. Poland colour palette, from a Reddit post.

Apart from that, the setting seems to be either timeless or a so-called anachronism stew: there is no new technology anywhere, people don't use mobile phones or even computers, there are only CRT TVs (but not terribly outdated), and cassette-tape cameras. At the same time, most of the cars have new number plates (which would suggest it's after the year 2000). At one point, Tadek's partner says that "the book was not published, only download" (which then Tadek listens to from CD), which would be a strange thing to hear around that time, as only-for-download was emerging as an idea. To quote Rustin Cohle from "True Detective,"

"This place is like somebody's memory of a town, and the memory is fading."

Hence, I think this was not meant to be real-life Poland, just a peculiar postcard to Poland.

(If you'd be interested in how Poland looked like around the year 2000, there is a fantastic series on Netflix, "The Mire," which does an excellent job at restoring the look of that time. Season 2 is set in 1997 and season 3 in December 1999. You can use it for comparison.)

Summary

In the light of these observations, I think this movie could be interesting to movie buffs as a quite unique homage to polishcore. It seems there was a lot of effort put into creating its visuals. It would probably sold better if the plot was stronger because at times, it feels to me more like vignettes put together.

"Dark Crimes" were accused by reviewers of imitating Swedish crime stories, which I think is a mistke. It might be more of a Greek thing here because similar pacing and even bleak palette was characteristic to another Greek director, Yorgos Lanthimos, and his movies like "Kinetta," "The Killing of a Sacred Deer," or "Kinds of Kindness."

Bonus: (Re)interpretation of the plot

Note: There are major spoilers below, not only for this but also other movies, so continue at your own risk.

What struck me on the second day after watching was that the whole thing could be seen as Tadek's dying dream. At the end, he goes to Kasia (Gainsbourg) to ask for the truth because "it's the only thing he has left," and she tells him the truth about the murder, but by the time she finishes, we learn that she actually poisoned him (for her own protection). Tadek's dead.

This would give an alternative view on the disjointed flow I experienced, various strange things that go unnoticed by the characters. When Kasia comes to Tadek's house at some point and asks for help, Tadek's wife says that if he leaves the house, she'll leave him. Tadek leaves with Kasia and the wife is to be never seen nor mentioned again (although, there is a scene where Tadek returns to an empty house, but he doesn't seem to be very moved by that). It's even worse with the daughter who's shown in 2 scenes at the family supper and suggested once to be in her room listening to dance music. This is very dream-like, and I noticed the same thing in my dreams: there are people there who don't do anything, despite accompanying me. All the places here are like "somebody's fading memory," which kind of explains the colours and the technologies.

Jim Carrey almost non-acts in this movie, which looks surprising after just rewatching "The Mask," and he was criticised for that, but this makes him more akin to be seen as a hungry ghost creeping through his own memories of the events than the events themselves. There is a lot of regret there, like a scene where he finds his mother dead after assuring her she wouldn't die alone. That's a strong adult fear.

To be clear, nothing in the movie itself suggests that this is the case. For all we know, this is realistic crime story. That is my interpretation and mine only, but it would place "Dark Crimes" next to "Brain Dead," "Naked Lunch," or "Lost Highway." And that's additional plus for me.