"Swinki" or "Goodbye Tomek" or "Ich, Tomek" or "Piggies" is a Polish/German co-production from 2009, so two more years and this one will have its 10th anniversary. It was written and directed by Robert Glinski and it is probably his second most famous work. The film runs for slightly over 1.5 hours and it is all about 14-year-old Tomek played by Filip Garbacz. The character is a good student, but he suffers from the bad area of Poland that he grows up in. Crime is just around the corner and it's the heavier stuff. He manages to blend it all out pretty nicely until he falls in love with a girl named Marta who ends up using the hopeless Tomek for her own financial improvement. Things become worse when a competitor for Marta's affection emerges and it drives Tomek to do worse and worse things the longer the film goes on.
I personally must say I liked the introduction and the developments early on. Garbacz gives a solid performance as well as Anna Kulej (Marta) and the rest of the cast is at least decent too, even if nobody stands out really But honestly, the moment when the title character really seems to have lost her despite doing awful things is when I thought Tomek would rather drown in his own mystery and loneliness instead of going the path he actually does in the movie, namely sinking deeper into the abyss of child prostitution. I still can make an argument here for this plot development because who knows how young teenagers in love function. Cannot argue with reason here. But when he eventually speaks out to become the pimp himself and then even becomes a murderer is when the film totally lost me. I did absolutely not feel authentic in terms of how the character was described and written in the entire half of the movie. Had the film stayed on the level it was during the first 45-60 minutes, my rating would have been a 6 out of 10, but for me personally the directions the plot was taking in the last third of the film did not work out at all. Quite a pity as there was clearly potential for more. Glinski sacrificed realism and authenticity here for the attempt to become as shocking as possible. It did not get me on the edge of my seat though, but got me to shake my head on more than one occasion. Watch something else instead.
I personally must say I liked the introduction and the developments early on. Garbacz gives a solid performance as well as Anna Kulej (Marta) and the rest of the cast is at least decent too, even if nobody stands out really But honestly, the moment when the title character really seems to have lost her despite doing awful things is when I thought Tomek would rather drown in his own mystery and loneliness instead of going the path he actually does in the movie, namely sinking deeper into the abyss of child prostitution. I still can make an argument here for this plot development because who knows how young teenagers in love function. Cannot argue with reason here. But when he eventually speaks out to become the pimp himself and then even becomes a murderer is when the film totally lost me. I did absolutely not feel authentic in terms of how the character was described and written in the entire half of the movie. Had the film stayed on the level it was during the first 45-60 minutes, my rating would have been a 6 out of 10, but for me personally the directions the plot was taking in the last third of the film did not work out at all. Quite a pity as there was clearly potential for more. Glinski sacrificed realism and authenticity here for the attempt to become as shocking as possible. It did not get me on the edge of my seat though, but got me to shake my head on more than one occasion. Watch something else instead.