Edward Barett
I enjoyed this movie from the very beginning to its end. Direction is superb, screenplay, character's performance, everything is brilliantly played and the output is understandingly remarkable. On the other hand, I disagree with some of the opinions posted on this board; this movie does not intend to reflect the lack of improvement since the fall of communism in Poland, or the advances of capitalism. It is not focused on politics, or at least I never got that impression. It's merely a burlesque artwork on human feelings, disillusion and settled values of this new global society; the impact they have on the lives of people in a small town in central Europe. Villages are the same elsewhere, in France or in USA, in Brazil or in Sweden, and villagers are always subjected to mockery because of their outdated and weird customs. For me, this is the best movie i've ever seen from Poland, and a great surprise. Will always recommend it!
SepikRiver
Very true to life.Very Slavic - lots of drinking - very believable but boring and the film goes on way too long!!!!The plot is plausible but uninteresting.The characters seem real but very disconnected. The characters are well acted but very two dimensional.Photography goes from the film camera to the cheap video camera used by the videographer shooting the wedding.The sound, music and other technical aspects are weak.True vignette of eastern Europe.Avoid this film it is endlessly repetitive.
Kuba_D
From the first scenes of the film where the father of the bride gets furious because the video-operator doesn't have on tape the moment where he brings the daughter to the groom, you already know that Smarzowski's movie will be ruled by the law of absurd.The story evolves like in a drunken vision. The local wealthy man Wojnar (Marian Dziedziel) is getting his daughter married and he buys them a luxurious Audi TT as a gift. What Wojnar doesn't know is that the car is stolen, but what he does know is that excluding the money, he must give two thousand acres of land to the gangster who brought the car for him. The land however is grandfather's and he is not willing to sell it. On one hand the viewer sees the wedding on which Tymon Tymanski sings out 'The White Bear' and hosts some totally embarrassing games. Everybody are getting drunk, argue and strangely enough tend to undress. On the other hand the criminal plot evolves. The gangster (Pawel Wilczak) gets angry with Wojnar for the delay. He shoots off his finger and after the arrangements are done, he leaves him with false papers.'Wesele' is similar to a volcano - ready to blow up. The grandfather dies, but his corpse doesn't seem to have an effect on anybody. The bride watches if the her ex-boyfriend is beaten good. Wojnar drives home for money, but is stopped by the police. The filled toilet explodes and pours out what becomes a metaphor of the disgusting on-screen world. Everybody here is covered in... 'excrements'. Everything smells and bring disgust.Wojciech Smarzowski has made a logical, with an aim to be dirty and a great realization. The camera who watches over what man would like to hide most.From "Wesele" which wants to portrait the modern Polish mentality, just as Wyspianski's play wanted to (there is even a quote from the play - "one should be in boots at the wedding"), comes out a whole catalog of our bad sides. The characters are sick about the money. They envy, lie and cheat. And it is not Wojnar who is the most disgusting here - it is his company surrounding him. Starting with the administrator, the musician and the bride. Because everybody can be saint and indigested when bad, mean and nasty is always 'he', 'someone', 'the other one'.
Marcin Kukuczka
Wojciech Smarzowski, one of the most talented young Polish directors, made this film to show not only a stereotypical Polish wedding reception (the word "wesele" in the title means wedding reception), but to bring into view some vivid characters, their values, and the Polish reality that has seriously changed since 1989. Wieslaw Wojnar, a rich landsman, prepares a wealthy wedding for his daughter, Kasia. He wants to show off in the village: orchestra, good food, and, most importantly, two wonderful gifts for the young couple: a car and honeymoon in Croatia. What more should they want: "there is money so there is everything!" He is deadly selfish and materialistic. But in the eyes of people: a man of honor! However, as the wedding goes on, things start to turn against him and his huge sum of money safely hidden starts to disappear...The director shows two kinds of people: the majority whose only master is money, and a small group of very few people who are aware that life and happiness mean something more than the search for riches. This is the Granpa, who symbolically says "I'll never sell my land" but "land" means, in fact, all values he lived like patriotism or love. The bride is similar: she does not only live to be rich but also knows what love should be like. Her tragedy, however, is that her new husband thinks precisely the opposite. He gets married in order to get a car from his father in law and show off among his friends. Fortunately, Kasia lives with him only one day...This group of people, like Kasia's husband, whose only happiness is to be rich are presented in very amusing contexts. Mundek, the lawyer, and many, many others. They are the gist of the comedy, really funny! But I won't say more because you should see the film for yourself. WESELE is a wonderful movie but it has to be interpreted in the right way. For those who do not know the Polish reality whatsoever, it might sometimes seem confusing. But just for the sake of fun, do see it. You will laugh most of the time, I promise. Even the horrific end for the old Wojnar is funny.One advice: don't laugh at Poles drinking so much. As a matter of fact, every nation does have its shortcomings...