Erupcja

“With him, the earth doesn’t shake.” 

Charli xcx makes (effectively) her big screen debut in Erupcja, a low-key romance from American director Pete Ohs that translates from Polish as “eruption.” She plays a young British woman named Bethany on a vacation in Warsaw with her bore of a boyfriend Rob (Will Madden) who brought an engagement ring on the trip. Bethany has been to Poland before—several times, actually—and every time she goes to see her Polish ex-flame Nel (Lena Góra), a volcano erupts. This time, the eruption comes from the Italian Mount Etna. 

Much like in the films of Wong Kar-wai, to whom Ohs will inevitably be compared, the characters meander the city with emotional aims more than plot-driven ones. Ohs credits four of the acting talents as co-writers: Jeremy O. Harris (who plays a young American artist conspicuously named Claude), Charli xcx, Lena Góra, and Will Madden. Psychogeographers have a word that pins the spirit of Erupcja’s wandering: dérive, coming from the French word “to drift” and in reference to urban landscapes. In psychogeography, there is an anti-capitalist implication to the practice by making the walker more aware of the effects of the (capitalist) landscape and bypassing boredom. Bethany also uses dérive to disarm boredom. For her, the boredom comes in the shape of a six-foot-tall bald man who loves her. 

Continue reading at the Boston Hassle.