gavin6942 Filip buys an eight-millimeter movie camera when his first child is born. Because it's the first camera in town, he's named official photographer by the local Party boss. His horizons widen when he is sent to regional film festivals with his first works but his focus on movie-making also leads to domestic strife and philosophical dilemmas."Camera Buff" explores censorship in Communist Poland and its repression of the individual's expression of his observations. Filip also confronts the consequences of a man who discovers new possibilities and finds his former world, which had been so fulfilling before he'd discovered filmmaking, rendered dull, old, and limited.The story is interesting solely because of the Communist aspect. If it was just a story of man who becomes obsessed with making movies, it would be just another story about movies told in the form of a movie. But the Communist aspect? If one man in town has a camera, it suddenly becomes a tool for the entire city. It's interesting. This could be beautiful or ugly, depending on who happens to be in power.

Ben Parker Another of Kieslowski's modern parables, but this time I love it. A man is given a movie camera when his daughter is born, and he's quite taken with it. The film is really interesting, good acting and writing; but I was drawn in by the sympathetic energy of the protagonist. He's just so likable. Perhaps I saw a bit of myself in his obsessive behaviour. There's so much humanity in this film. If the others are like this, I can see why he's so well loved. +6 for a brilliant film about the creative urge +6 bonus points for the scene where he skulls an old-school Pepsi. 10/10, loved it.

ccthemovieman-1 Here's another example of critics' comments on the back of a VHS box being very misleading to us unsuspecting buyers. Comments on the video box made this movie sound fascinating, a big visual treat and an interesting story with a suspenseful finish.. Sadly, it was none of those things.By the way, for English-speaker viewers, this film is called "Camera Buff."In truth, it was very boring film with unlikeable characters giving you nobody to root for or care about. The man character is a nerd who would rather watch others than do anything with his life.This won the grand prize at the Moscow Film Festival, which shows you how bad things still were in Russia in the early '90s. I know things have gotten better.

MartinHafer I really liked this film because it dared to be different and it was an excellent study of psychology. This movie was about a Polish man who scraped together his money in order to by an 8mm camera to film his new baby. However, shortly after getting the camera and beginning filming his wife and child, he gets really hooked on making his little films--and seems to film almost everything around him. At first, it's fun, but then it becomes an obsession. In the process, instead of LIVING and EXPERIENCING life with his little family, he is filming them in a very detached way. However, he is so into the filming that he hardly recognizes his wife's growing anger over that ^&@#*^@! camera! Then, when his boss sees him filming and asks him to make a film for the company, his problem grows by leaps and bounds. He seems to see himself as the next great documentary maker and begins to enter competitions and send his films to the television network. To his wife's chagrin, he receives positive reviews and by this point she's lost him--they have no real life together. Where the film goes from there I will leave for you to watch. It is a fascinating psychological study of a man and his obsession--as well as the impact this ultimately has on others around him. An excellent film.