What makes it different from others?

This is How Movies Should Be Made

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Blistering performances.

Haven't seen every Kieslowski work yet (though as of now it's close), but of what has been seen all ranges between very good (the 8th episode of 'Dekalog') to masterpiece ('Three Colors: Red' and 'Blue' and the whole 'Dekalog' series). To me, he was an immensely gifted director, who died far too early.An early effort, 'Camera Buff' is not among Kieslowski's best work, but generally it is deserving of more love. Although Kieslowski's directing style is fairly well established, remarkable for so early on, it did become more refined later on as seen with his late 80s-early 90s work. There is a preference for the more intricate-sounding music scores of his later work, this score was the kind that worked well within the film but one doesn't have the desire to hear it on its own repeatedly, and the slightly more emotional resonant and intense work like the best of the 'Dekalog' series, 'The Double Life of Veronique' and 'Three Colors: Red' and 'Blue'.Despite how that sounds, there's actually not much wrong at all with 'Camera Buff', just that it was done better later. This said, 'Camera Buff' is a great film, regardless of what stage it was made in Kieslowski's career.'Camera Buff', as was always the case in Kieslowski's work, is very well made. The cinematography is minimalist, but visually striking and atmospheric as well as fascinatingly personal. As well as being beautifully shot with atmospheric use of colour to match the mood, it is gritty yet beautiful with many thoughtful and emotionally powerful images lingering long into the memory. Kieslowski's direction is quietly unobtrusive, intelligently paced and never too heavy.It's a thought-provoking film in writing, as ever thematically rich and with complex characters, the shift from initial comedy to drama expertly done rather than abrupt and jarring. Kieslowski again proves himself as a master of narrative construction, and the whole film is thoroughly engaging and suitably challenging. The acting is as always from Kieslowski marvellously nuanced and natural.To conclude, early Kieslowski that while not one of his best is deserving of more love. 9/10 Bethany Cox

A Model of the Man as a Young ArtistOne of the best things in the world is to take someone you love deeply and trace them back in their histories, back back before you knew them. Back until you see all the butterflies that nudged each other to produce what you need and feed.And before the shape was mature. Yes, then you can see the structure, the limbs before they flowered and even surprise yourself a bit.I'm in love with Kieslowski. Oh he isn't my favorite filmmaker, and not the one I spend time with when I need to learn and grow. But he is someone to have tea with, a friend who has his own way of fluffing air with apparent lovely slight fogs but when you encounter them you find them informed, nourishing, psychotropic. More than lovely. "Heaven," though not all his, is something I wish on every soul and every vehicle he had driven until then carried him there.This is Kielsowski's first feature. It was before he entered into that odd writing partnership where some external force (Piesiewicz) created some sort of conventional frame on which our artistlover could drape his folds, lace and knives. Before that clever partnership that hid the mechanics.Here you can see his favored machine, the simple fold: a movie about movie-making and love, and all the related dimensions he knew at the time: intellectual, death, rutting, wistfulness, justice. Passions all. Urges all. At the end, it loops upon itself, the ladder complete to start again at the beginning of the next.It isn't particularly profound or satisfying by itself. But if you are a lucid mind today, chances are you think about narrative flows and how you and the world use them to wind around and buffet each other. And almost certainly you have had tea with Kieslowski.If so, you'll find this model of his younger self will tell you something about yourself in an odd, indirectly magical way. If you do, check out the trigger for passion here: Chopin.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Filip Mosz is a typical polish man. His wife is pregnant, he has a modest job, and all he expects from life is tranquility. That is until he buys a camera to record his newborn daughter, month-by-month evolution. He has the first camera in town, his boss hears about that and asks him to document a business meeting they will be having. This is the beginning for Filip, from this on he begins to get more and more hooked up by films. Mosz is a character that was born to the camera, his naive and curious look give his film an award at the business film festival, and after that he go for his filmmaker side at full throttle. His films begins to get more sophisticated, and he starts knowing people from the business and getting good reviews. Near the end his boss take him for a walk, and they talk about the repercussions of Filips films on the town. At first Filip is mad at his boss, for it was not the first time the he would try to impose him censure for one of his movies. The thing is that for his new movie people Filip cares about will have a bad time. He finds out that what he does as a film-maker has consequences for many people, some good, some bad. And the thing is he can't control the interests, there will always be people who be affected negatively. So this film, has under the first look a discovery and later a dilemma, tat the main character has to attend. HE founds out that you can't be reckless when making movies, you have to be aware of what you may cause. There are things you want everybody to know, but sometimes it is best that this not happen. You can't be impartial, you ca~'t have a neutral camera, for a camera will always be the point of view of someone, not reality itself. So he has this dilemma : if he keep doing this, his acts will have consequences, consequences which he can not tell what will be.The end of the movie is great too, very much like kieslowski. in the end, when he has decided to end with film-making. He turns the camera to himself, no longer being an spectator, but taking part of the action. SHe has been an expectator all along, as we can see with his wife. He goes away and he does nothing really about it. Things happen around him but he don't get very affected, until he switch positions.

One of the most ambitious early works of Kieslowski, AMATOR, or CAMERABUFF is a great work, sadly not too well know by the world. I accidentally stumbled upon this film at my local video store, and noticed that Jerzy Stuhr was on the cover (the lead role). i have always liked Stuhr's acting, so i decided to pick it up. i also noticed that this was a film by K. Kieslowski, giving me even more reason to take this film out. after popping this movie into the VCR, the first thing that caught my eye was the beautiful, yet fore-shadowing, close-up, sun lit shot of the the bird (a recurring camera technique used by Kieslowski). the film was shot in a very minimalistic, and the narrative was very involving. Fascinatingly enough, the film starts out at a "high point", where all the characters seem at peace and ease, and then plunges down to a miserable low. the feeling at the end of the movie is in-describable... i recommend this Krzysztof Kieslowski film anyone really interested in his work. it was a very good early piece.