A creative writing teacher I once had about a thousand years ago taught me that you shouldn’t let the content of your work dictate the form. That is, writing about boring people doesn’t excuse boring writing. I think this concept has a name, but like I said, it was about a thousand years ago.
I mention this because Michal Marczak, director of the Polish pseudo-documentary All These Sleepless Nights, should’ve realized that making a movie about aimless, disconnected young people involves more than just swooping an aimless, disconnected camera around them. Marczak’s dexterous lens follows two Warsaw art students as they dance, smoke, flirt, fuck, and snort their way through all-night revels and regretful dawns.
That description makes Nights seem more exciting than it is.