“Feedback” – on the Trail of Alcoholic Illusion [Review]
Title: “Feedback” (TV series)
Release Date: 2023
Director: Leszek Dawid
Cast: Arkadiusz Jakubik, Jakub Sierenberg, Dominika Bednarczyk, Nel Kaczmarek, Przemysław Bluszcz
The series “Feedback” is another excellent role of Arkadiusz Jakubik, who leads this production like an outstanding football player of the game: he is simultaneously in the attack, plays the ball and stands in goal. He is a loving father searching for his missing son, an alcoholic ruining his family and a dreamy musician living out his nostalgia for playing in an old rock band. Detective investigation is invariably intertwined here with personal, moving drama, for it is in family relationships that there are more secrets than criminal intrigue.
“Feedback” – a series based on the novel by Jakub Żulczyk
“Feedback” is another already interesting series filmed on the basis of the prose of Jakub Żulczyk. As in the case of the famous “Blinded by the Lights“, the action takes place in Warsaw, but the story is more intimate, and the actor playing the main role is definitely better chosen. Marcin Kania is a former musician and lyricist for a well-known rock band, with which he no longer plays for years. Royalties from the songs he has written, however, allow him to lead a comfortable and prosperous life as the owner of several expensive properties. Marcin has two grown children and lives separated from his wife. This is because, as it turns out, the family fell apart because of his alcohol addiction. However, the man is trying to get out on his own, has not been drinking for two years and attends weekly AA group meetings.
One day Marcin wakes up battered in his son Piotrek’s (Jakub Sierenberg) apartment and has absolutely no memory of how he got there or what happened the previous evening. After a while, his concerned wife bangs on the premises, convinced that Piotrek is missing. And indeed the son disappears without a trace, and the parents undertake a frantic search. Soon Marcin begins to recall excerpts from the day before Piotrek went missing and follows the trail of his memories. The case looks increasingly suspicious, and its roots may reach far into the protagonist’s past.
The series “Feedback” – an excellent performance by Arkadiusz Jakubik
In a sense, it can be said that “Feedback” is a series of one actor. Arkadiusz Jakubik sets the narrative from the first shots and does not let the viewer breathe until the last scene. Whoever accompanies him on screen, he is the one who steals the viewer’s attention, focusing the entire weight of the story on himself. Each of his faces seems equally fascinating and outstandingly played. Jakubik is convincing both as a loving father who will do anything to find his son, and as an aggressive alcoholic drinking away his successes and failures. We like him when he’s a fun-loving joker and shock us when he goes on a rampage, destroying everything within reach.
As the father, Jakubik comes off perfectly, as he did in another great Polish series, “Klangor.” His facial expressions, posture, gesticulation, and convincingly spoken lines build the character of a concerned parent who simultaneously struggles with his demons. How much they dominate the character’s life, we learn gradually. It’s almost a Dantean journey in which we accompany Martin, descending with him into successive circles of hell.
“Feedback” – an alcoholic ride without a stick
The biggest puzzle in the series “Feedback” is precisely the mind, devastated by alcohol addiction. It is in its meanders that we drown, time and again led by Martin into a dead end. Memories are mixed with imaginings and mere delusions. What is the truth and what is a lie? What happened? What was life really like for Marcin’s family, what problems did his son face? Only when the protagonist is ready to look the truth in the eye and assimilate the title feedback, everything will become clear.
The series based on Żulczyk’s novel is a production with a message, in which we will find not only an attractive atmosphere of detective fiction, Warsaw realities and great acting, but also a poignant reflection on destructive addiction. It is therefore certainly worth spending some time on it.
