Krzysztof Kieslowski presents this initially comic yet ultimately moving drama about finding one’s calling in life. Filip Mosz (Jerzy Stuhr), a Polish factory worker, purchases an eight-millimeter movie camera to record his baby daughter's first few years of life. Looking for other things to do with his new toy, Filip makes a rather shoddy documentary about his workplace and then submits the film to a local festival. Surprisingly, his amateur movie garners an award, and this small taste of success sends Filip into a moviemaking frenzy. Committing himself to a new life as a documentary filmmaker, he shoots footage of nearly everything he encounters, but his zeal to record all that he sees soon runs him afoul of government officials who guard secrets they don't want revealed, in addition to his wife, who becomes fed up with his need to live life from behind the camera. In traditional Kieslowski fashion, his film works on many different levels, including the sociopolitical one that takes place in the factory. It is the personal commentary on filmmaking passion that provides the film with its core emotion, however. Stuhr’s Filip is a remarkable creation--a man who is at once inspiring, loving, and pathetic.

Krzysztof Kieslowski presents this initially comic yet ultimately moving drama about finding one’s calling in life. Filip Mosz (Jerzy Stuhr), a Polish factory worker, purchases an eight-millimeter movie camera to record his baby daughter's first few years of life. Looking for other things to do with his new toy, Filip makes a rather shoddy documentary about his workplace and then submits the film to a local festival. Surprisingly, his amateur movie garners an award, and this small taste of success sends Filip into a moviemaking frenzy. Committing himself to a new life as a documentary filmmaker, he shoots footage of nearly everything he encounters, but his zeal to record all that he sees soon runs him afoul of government officials who guard secrets they don't want revealed, in addition to his wife, who becomes fed up with his need to live life from behind the camera.    more...