Pleasant Days

A young pregnant woman, Maya, sits beside a spinning washing machine repeatedly chanting: ‘Hey you hairy cunt/Get off the road/Oh how my balls are itchin’/To give you a hard fucking.’ Then her waters break. She doesn’t flinch. A couple of scenes later she gives birth on the launderette floor and hands over the baby to the launderette owner for a wedge of cash. That’s followed by another hour or so of drug-taking, deception, bullying, voyeurism, borderline incest and sexual violence. Ah – so that title would be ironic then.The baby exchange is secretly witnessed by Peter, the laundrette owner’s brother, who’s fresh out of jail. He’s also best buddies with the baby’s real father and employed by Maya’s car mechanic sugar daddy. He keeps schtum about what he sees though, even as his sister convinces her partner that he’s the father and Peter’s own feelings for Maya grow…This first feature from 30-year-old Hungarian Mundruczó  has picked up a smattering of festival awards, presumably from those mistaking relentless grimness for artistic integrity. Admittedly, the DV cinematography includes an interesting way with colour –  the final, savage dawn-set scene is suffused in deep, dismal indigo, while the characters’ feature outlines often emanate a murky, algal green, as if they’ve  all had a dose of putrid Ready Brek – but to what avail? There’s not enough backstory given to make this meaningful social commentary nor enough sympathy or levity to engage. As the characters are so knottily entwined, frequently appear in oppressive close-up and deliver their lines with almost comical detachment, maybe the point was to scrutinise their anomie. Maybe not. Being brutally honest, this is just brutally boring.