BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN MOVIE REVIEW

Winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and Romania’s submission to the Academy for Best International Feature, Radu Jude’s “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” is a provocative comedy-drama that is bound to divide audiences. It certainly divided our own critics. The film opens with a sexually explicit home video between history teacher Emi (Katia Pascariu) and her husband. When the video gets leaked on the internet, it causes a scandal at her school, and outraged parents demand she resign. Despite its melodramatic premise, Jude has no interest in telling a conventional story. Frequently dispensing with narrative altogether, Jude uses Emi’s plight as a springboard to explore the most problematic aspects of Romanian history, and every manner of societal ill. Listen to Neil, Jordan, Adrian and Marco as they discuss one of the year’s most challenging films. One of our reviewers thought this was an impressive formalist essay from an artist whose righteous anger is tempered by his erudition, and sharp wit. The other three critics thought it was dull, pretentious wankery that fails to tell an engaging story and never lives up to its graphically prurient opening.The truth is probably somewhere in between, but that’s up to you the viewer to decide.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Rada Jude

STARRING: Katia Pascariu, Claudia Ieremia, Olimpia Mălai, Nicodim Ungureanu, Andi Vasluianu, Ion Dichiseanu

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

 

Marco Noyola (Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Audio Editor)

By day, Marco is a mild-mannered office worker, but by night he is a mild-mannered movie watcher. He does other mild-mannered stuff too.

“You don’t need to follow me. You don’t need to follow anybody!”

 

 

 

Neil Anderson (Screener Squad)

I first got hooked on movies when I saw Star Wars at a drive-in theater as a kid. Growing up in a small, rural town meant not having access to a lot of movies. In college, that all changed. I couldn’t get enough. I love it all — flicks, films, movies, and cinema. I still have that wide-eyed wonder of that kid watching movies from the back of a pick-up truck at the drive-in.

 

 

Jordan Cobb (Screener Squad)

Born with a comic book in one hand, a camera in the other, and in front of the television as WrestleMania played out, Jordan Worth Cobb was thus birthed into this crazy world. A Digital Filmmaking major from the University of Central Arkansas, Jordan has done it all in film from directing, writing, editing, and producing in addition to skills involved in film and TV criticism, journalism, and years of podcasting experience. On any given day, her ADHD riddled brain bounces focus from film to pro wrestling to TV to superheroes to noir to video games to espionage and yes, even to sports. She played little league you know. For more of this eccentric nerd, you can follow her on Twitter here and read her original writings on Deepest Corners of My Notebook.

 

 

Adrian El Critico (Screener Squad)

Though born and raised in Chicago, this film critic is Mexican to the bone. Adrian has been watching movies since he was a child, many of which might not have been age appropriate. Still, he couldn’t get enough. All throughout his life, friends and family would look to him for his recommendations and reviews on whatever films had come their way. Inspired earlier in life by the likes of Ebert and Roper at The Movies and then later Spill.com, Adrian decided film criticism and analysis provided a great outle...