Kult Film

Polish band Kult may not be known to many in the UK but they're a national phenomenon in their homeland, as big and well known as the likes of The Rolling Stones are to Brits - but unfamiliarity doesn't stop this high-energy on and off-stage documentary about them being entertaining. The nine-piece outfit trade in the same sort of Nutty Boy spirit as UK Eighties chart-toppers Madness, mixing ska and more punk and jazz tendencies with rock music. And like Suggs' band, they are known for their high energy performances - giving fans what they want at three-hour concerts, plus encores.

Leading the way, is vocalist and saxophonist Kazik Staszewski, now in his mid-fifties but seemingly with no intention of slowing down. He co-founded the band with Dariusz Gierszewski and they, plus the other members of the group happily talk about the ins and outs of the band's dynamic as they travel about or socialise between gigs. The emotional heart of the story is provided by one of their most faithful fans, Rafa? "Didi" Diduch, who after following them around to gigs with so little money he even spent a night in the cells found himself taken under Staszewski's wing.

Didi may have had problems but Staszewski seems to have recognised in him a fellow maverick, adapting postcards he sent (with homemade stamps) into some of the band's best known lyrics

Although not fully spelled out, alcohol issues are hinted at - not least in the random breath testing the band all undertake periodically before gigs. A no-alcohol rule it seems they instigated after problems sprang up.

Director Olga Bieniek, a long-time friend of the group, harnesses some of Kult's punk spirit for her film, which mixes concert footage with backstage conversation to give a sense of what drives them. She's also inventive, at one point attaching a camera to Staszewski's mic, so that we look directly at him as he gives his all for the fans. And it's the dedication to those who pay to see them that really stands out here - Kult genuinely care about the fans, Bieniek genuinely cares about the fans and the band and the generosity of spirit is contagious.