Janusz Majewski draws an effervescent musical tale about life in the 1950s in Poland, simultaneously paying respect to jazz as the music of freedom. When asked by Jacek Szczerba (for an interview in Gazeta Wyborcza) Majewski stated that he is ‘a veteran among jazz fans’, and recollected his first encounter with jazz, the first Jazz All Souls Day (Zaduszki Jazzowe) in 1954 in Kraków and first attempts to work as a compere. This nostalgia emerges in the film. The spy intrigue and the romantic thread are not greatly important, rather the music and the intriguing jazz rhythms are.
Jakub Majmurek (Filmweb) wrote:
The music expresses the desire for freedom and a life more joyful than the one proposed by Gomułka with the militia, ubecja (the Polish secret police), overcrowding, tea in a glass, and unpleasant waiters. However, Majewski draws a balanced picture of the époque, without black and white distinctions, but with various shades of cooperation with the communist Polish authorities.
The director of The Enchanted Stations gathered actors who are musically talented: Maciej Stuhr (who attended a music school for ten years), Wiktor Zborowski, Sonia Bohosiewicz, and Natalia Rybicka. Acting is truly one of the strongest sides of The Eccentrics: especially the supporting roles of Anna Dymna as a vulgar old lady and Wojciech Pszoniak as Mr. Zuppe, an erudite piano tuner and homophobic homosexual who ‘seeks for pederasts in Polish poetry’.
Majewski’s film was welcomed warmly by journalists and audiences. As well as the aforementioned awards, the film received many positive reviews from Polish film critics. Zdzisław Pietrasik wrote in ‘Polityka’:
In The Eccentrics we have everything that characterized the best of Majewski’s previous films: a careful realization, refined scenography and good acting of both primary and secondary roles. (…) We also have a lot of good jazz from the époque, including On the Sunny Side of the Street. The film is a great proposal for those who want to lift their moods.
The Eccentrics. The Sunny Side of the Street, Poland 2015. Dir.: Janusz Majewski. Script: Włodzimierz Kowalewski, Janusz Majewski. Cinematography: Adam Bajerski. Music: Wojciech Karolak. Cast: Maciej Stuhr, Natalia Rybicka, Wiktor Zborowski, Sonia Bohosiewicz, Wojciech Pszoniak, Anna Dymna, and others.
Production: Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych. Colour. 112 min.
Source: Press Materials, BS, translated by: Antoni Wiśniewski, February 2016.