Amator (Camera Buff)
For some reason, I have always had a certain fascination for Kieslowski’s less famous films, such as “Blind Chance” or “Big Animal“. Sadly, though, “Blind Chance” turned out to be extremely dreadful and difficult to watch. The weird cuts and immense subtlety of the plot forces you to put all the concentration you could potentially muster onto understanding the storyline – if you can do it. Despite the great premise “Blind Chance” had, I couldn’t watch more than an hour of it.
“Camera Buff” is completely different. The storyline is very simple and straightforward. It’s a film more about film-making rather than films itself, although a few tidbits of talking about what a film should do or how it achieves these goals definitely adds an deeper layer to the simple portrait of a man who finds passion in film-making. Since it’s Kieslowski, the film would never delve into long conversations where people would throw pretentious words at each other.
I liked the film for its premise and how the storyline unfolds. I was even deeply touched by certain scenes (none of which involve his annoying wife), evoking the end of Kiarostami’s “Close-up”. (Of course “Close-up” came much later and perhaps the film rather refers to Italian or British realism.)
The only thing I am wondering now is whether his wife actually returned. First of all, I am not sure if he really has realized what he has lost by letting her go. It is very likely that the birth of his child does indeed mean a lot to him – but it also could just as well be that he is using his own life for the sake of film making (a scary thought actually!) If, however, he realized how he wronged his family, my bet would rather be that he will get his wife back. Whoever she is with, it’s not going to be some guy who is better than the protagonist was, and she clearly loved him when she left him. (She didn’t take the TV set after all!)
“Camera Buff” is very very lovely, and a surprisingly good one. However, I say that as a Kieslowski fan who truly enjoys his weird way of making films. Apart from that – I guess it’s time for me to give “Blind Chance” another chance.