Louder Than Bombs

Playing variations on an established theme, this love story-cum-social drama examines the crisis for young Smiths-loving Marcin (Mackowiak) who finds his girlfriend (Juszczak) is due to leave for Chicago at the very moment he inherits the family house following his father's death. The zany, close to burlesque humour may be familiar (local rockers The Comets play at the funeral in a piece of Kaurismäki drollery), but the movie is distinuished by its variety and the interest it takes in its people. The sad undertow, of course, is the older generation's desperate keenness for their offspring to emigrate.