Women of Mafia

Patryk Vega for me is the best Polish director and his gritty gangster film reminiscent of a female Scarface has received little praise, except in Czechia, but what the hell, for me it is a very nice surprise. Visually the film looks decent and we Czechs still have a lot to learn from the Poles. A capable policewoman in the leading role, a great bunch of gangsters, a lot profanity, a lot of sex and nudity, and a lot of violence. The running time is two hours and twenty minutes, but the pace is very good, there are unexpected plot developments; the transformation of an ordinary nanny into an absolute and uncompromising bitch is excellent. A great event and a very pleasant surprise. 80% (09/27/2018)

That's just how it is when you have an urgent need to write a sprawling and unrelenting mafia saga, and you can't even write a coherent script for See Jane Run. It's also a radical reminder of the importance of having a dramaturg on a film. Here, characters come and go in and out of the story haphazardly, the genre changes several times, half the stuff is completely unexplained, and character motivations or developments really go by the wayside. In terms of direction, it's a complete fiasco, as the film has no method, formal concept, or face, making the whole thing look like the Czech TV series The Street, only with more rape and drowning in acid. This probably explains the Polish enthusiasm and the fact that Vega is the highest grossing director in Poland. Basically, good for TV people. Two stars for the commitment of all involved, and cringe. (11/16/2018)

I don't know why the genre of comedy isn’t listed in the film’s description, there was quite a lot of black humor in it. Agnieszka Dygant’s performance was very enjoyable, the nanny was the best character in the film after Anna. (11/01/2018)

It’s incomprehensible to me how far Polish crime dramas have advanced in recent years. Their work meets the strictest European standards, with top-level visuals tied to a complex story. I applaud our northern neighbors for that. Women of Mafia doesn’t hold back. By European standards, it features unprecedented brutality (even the French wouldn’t show such explicit violence directly on screen), excessive nudity (which surprised me; I would have toned it down a bit), and a complex, tangled plot that made sense most of the time. It might seem like the film is essentially free of negatives, but that would be too idealistic. All the storylines gradually mix together like some kind of shake, and I can’t say I was completely satisfied with the result (in this regard, I might have reduced the number of characters to make it easier for the audience to follow). The adult tone definitely benefited the film, as did the uncompromising ending that will leave you quite shocked. Right between 3 and 4 stars, considering the good finale, I lean towards a weaker four-star rating. 7/10 (03/26/2021)