The Day I Found A Girl In The Trash

There's air of something old, something new, something borrowed and something - or, at least, someone - blue about this near-future sci-fi drama from Michal Krzywicki.

The old and heavily borrowed, is the blend of automaton slavery, with it's city look having more than a whiff of Blade Runner thanks to constant rainfall and general production and costume design that feels reminiscent of films including The Fifth Element, Artificial Intelligence and many more besides.

In this incarnation of Poland, criminals are no longer sent to jail, instead they receive a dose of Vaxina (something that makes one wonder if the director/star and his co-writer/co-star Dagmara Brodziak's stance on vaccination might be problematic) that strips them of their memories. Meanwhile, a collar with an internal spike renders them compliant, mute and impervious to pain, while these freshly minted automatons also carry an implanted tracker. This, of course, is considered progress.

That the story hinges on a 'damsel in distress' plot also feels overly familiar. The near-mute female protagonist (Brodziak) - who takes on the name "Blue" - might as well be from another planet when Szymon (Krzywicki) comes across her by the bins. She's already had her collar taken off by a previous 'owner', in a prologue that sits unevenly with the rest of the film.

As chance would have it, Szymon is an anti-automaton activist, the only problem being that he is currently enjoying his own ten minutes of fame, thanks to a plan to commit suicide at midnight later that day - it's New Year's Eve - as a form of protest. Still, resolutions can come early and Szymon resolves to try to help Blue escape.

The newest element of all this is the potentially interesting take on its totalitarian overtone, including everyone standing at a certain point for the national anthem, but the film takes the soft path every time. As the pair hit the road - though not until after the obligatory "Saviour shows Damsel how to bathe and eat" scene - stranger after stranger turns out to have a heart of gold, which seems highly unlikely in the context of the film's universe. I couldn't help wondering how much more interesting it might have been if the two roles had been reversed and it had been a woman who found a man in the trash instead, but originality is not this film's strong suit. The "I" in the title is a tell, indicating who the writers really care most about - their guy, not the girl, who never develops a story of her own and is largely only there to serve her Saviour's journey of reconciliation with himself.

The performances from Brodziak and Krzywicki fit nicely together but they can't escape the navigation of this well-trodden road. It seems that even Krzywicki may realise this, attempting to amp things up occasionally with a spot of flashy camerawork that does little but draw attention to itself rather than furthering the story or the mood.

The score, too, from Krzysztof A Janczak is so intrusive that it actively detracts from the film. Some say the future is already written. In this case, it has been, and better.