Middle-aged high school teacher Adam Miauczynski (brilliantly portrayed by Marek Kondrat) is the very picture of disappointing mediocrity, unrealised plans and dreams that never came true. His salary is a pittance. He's divorced. And every single day – this one, too! – is the same as his last one. He clings stubbornly to the rules and routines he has established for himself: everything in his life has its own ridiculous ritual. We laugh at him, and sometimes very loudly. Which is fine, because the film is directed by Marek Koterski one of the most important satirists in Polish cinema. The question is – like in all good satire – who it is that we're laughing at. And whether our laughter is carefree fun or not. Because the “wacko” of the title is not crazy. He's just the same as any other decent citizen. He eats, drinks, grumbles, spouts politics at the dinner table, watches the telly, takes issue with everyone and despises them. Except here its all concentrated so densely that his actions become compulsive, and everything he does seems disproportionately large in scale. And sometimes we don't laugh at all, because we sense that this play-acting is actually his life. And that it's the quirks and mannerisms, the rituals and routines that tether him to human existence.
It's a strange film, and one that appears to be extremely simple. Like a cabaret routine. What's more complicated is whether we see ourselves and our own obsessions in the frustrated teacher, and whether or not we're willing to think for a minute about what we use to fill the casings of our lives. In other words: The Day of the Wacko is surprisingly close to Gogol's hilarious and wrenching monologue Diary of a Madman.

This series has been made possible with the cooperation of the Polish Institute in Budapest.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest