52 Films by Women Vol 10. 40. HOT SPOT (Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska)

 

Pictured: Ayka (Reika Kirishima, right) is confronted with the father of her child who has morphed into a cat in a scene from the futuristic drama, 'Hot Spot', written by Robert Bolesto and directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska. Still courtesy of So Films (Poland) / Focus Features (US)

In the future, civilization thrives on jelly beans. That’s the premise of Polish director Agnieszka Smocynska’s fourth feature, Hot Spot, which reteams her with writer Robert Bolesto, who scripted her debut, The Lure. The year is unspecified – films generally get caught out tying themselves to a future date, from 2001 – A Space Odyssey onwards. Like most films about the future, Hot Spot (not a great title) is shaped by current preoccupations: artificial intelligence and migration. There are those who have access to resources, who sign up to being mentally joined to the Head, who instructs them daily to not waste water or sexual energy, and migrants who don’t, covering half their faces with clothes, not to disguise their features – we can see one eye and 50% of their nose, cheek, mouth and chin – but as a statement of tribal affiliation. Their prognosis is grim. If they won’t join society, they won’t reap the rewards.

The location is described as ‘nowhere’, though people mostly communicate in their minds (not moving their lips) through variously accented English. The film’s protagonist is Jan 623 aka Djonny (Andrzej Konopka), a detective, tasked to investigate a ritual killing in a migration camp. We experience the Head through him, waking up to a kaleidoscopic digital effect and hearing a female voice reminding users to stay connected, otherwise their physical health cannot be guaranteed. In practice, this means that your head will explode. Djonny witnesses a man described as a threat who exhibits signs of an epileptic fit before remnants of his skull are sprayed everywhere. There are armed forces on the train, but they wait until after the event to respond, dragging the body away. In order to clean the blood spatter off his arm, Djonny takes out a pet grub, which licks him clean. Other passengers follow suit.

The film’s vibe is decidedly retro. Djonny’s work jumpsuit and dyed blonde curls make him resemble a wrestler from the 1970s; the hot weather, the consequence of a climate disaster, is not suited to trilby hats and raincoats, the attire of screen detectives of yore. As Djonny drives to the metro station, ‘The Final Countdown’ by Europe blasts over the soundtrack. The vibe quickly vanishes. After Djonny’s car passes, we see migrants, crouching down to disguise themselves as rocks, rising up and moving in the opposite direction. There are significant numbers of them, all dressed in brown fabric, which you imagine absorbs sunlight. This sequence put me in mind of the opening of Aguirre, Wrath of God, which also featured many tens of costumed extras filmed from a distance and heading in the same direction. I mean this as a compliment.

Djonny lives with a musical performer, Ayka (Reika Kirishima), who has had a mastectomy, and his son, Zen (George Aurimas Cris), the latter not so keen to go to school. Zen likes to imagine himself killing dragons, dressing as an English knight – Lancelot keen to slack, as it were. There is no television in the future, but there are concerts. Zen is not allowed to see his mother perform. ‘It’s for adults,’ Djonny tells him. This would probably make him wonder what kind of show it might be.

Pictured: Djonny get your gun. Andrzej Konopka in a scene from the futuristic drama, 'Hot Spot', directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska. Still courtesy of So Films (Poland) / Focus Features (US)

The murder Djonny is tasked to investigate is a ritual killing. A migrant woman has been decapitated. Her hair is used as a belt to fasten her head to her waist, covering her womanhood. The body has been tied to a fence. Why is the presentation of the body significant? Djonny does not ask that question. Instead, he scans the crowd of migrants for suspicious individuals. He focuses on Rana (Noomi Rapace), unfairly described as a ‘cyber witch’, whose left eye – the one not covered – meets his gaze. He interrogates her. She witnessed the killing. It was carried out by a worker at the centre.

Of course, the investigation is not the point. Through the Head, Djonny shares what he sees with Ayka, a neat way of avoiding the conversation, ‘how was your day?’ There is no privacy for those who submit to the Head. Zen later complains of ‘missing loneliness’, though he should have used the word solitude instead – bad translation. Rana taps into Djonny’s transmission and bonds with Ayka, resulting in a sexual experience of a sort for the latter. Djonny has to make do with being top detective, a descriptor that doesn’t come with any perks. Rana encourages Ayka to detach herself from the Head. Haven’t there been enough detached heads in this film?

Pictured: The Girl With the Half-Covered Hairdo. Migrant so-called 'cyber witch' Rana (Noomi Rapace), 'the one who sees', stands out in the crowd. A scene from the futuristic drama, 'Hot Spot', directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska. Still courtesy of So Films (Poland) / Focus Features (US)

The downside of sharing reality is that when there is an execution, everyone linked to the Head has to see it. The worker at the centre confesses his crime, having explained that the victim made him do it. As the worker is consumed by fat grubs and his bodily fluid is turned into resources for group use, Ayka distracts Zen. When in a much later scene, we see Zen with one sock missing, we wonder if one such distracting game is to lose laundry.

The film builds to a black out, where the link to the Head fails for everyone. Having observed the change in Ayka, who appears to be interchangeable with Rana at the club where she performs, Djonny has Rana arrested.

Before then, there are some intriguing scenes, including one in which Djonny shares with Zen the sight of a bird with an enlarged red bill. Traffic stops when it starts to rain. Motorists leave their vehicles and bask in the non-rationed water. Later, Djonny sees a young boy perched in a tree like a bird. The image glitches. Ayka’s nipple starts to bleed.

Djonny’s desire has him take the form of a tiger. In the film’s finale, he turns on Ayka. Zen finds his father’s weapon. A shot is fired.

After an arresting opening, the film loses its way. There is the suggestion that group conformity cannot silence guilt. Desire leads to mental breakdown. This isn’t a film in which large numbers of people are radicalised and free themselves. In this sense, the film reflects the current reality in America. Smoczynska makes pointed use of the Head’s phrase, ‘Thank you for your attention in this matter,’ much used in the social media posts of the current (authoritarian) US President. Celebrations of the liberty permitted by the Head are cut short – Smoczynska changes the music – suggesting that happiness is illusory. The film stops short of revealing a conspiracy – individuals who benefit from the Head’s controlling influence. The Head is presented as a manmade guarantor of survival, but we aren’t shown another way of dividing up resources. It is unclear where electricity and fuel – as well as bullets for Djonny’s gun – come from. Smoczynska wants the audience to contemplate the film’s intentions after the event, as in, ‘what the heck was that about?’

There is a nice bonding scene when Djonny and Zen surf virtually, as if seeing themselves represented in a motion capture video game. We only watch father and son pretend to surf, not the image they see. The flip side of this has Zen disconnected from the Head and finding himself standing on the edge of the roof a building, looking down. Djonny has to rescue him. This is one of the few set pieces with genuine tension.

The film was partly shot in Greece. Smoczynska makes use of the remains of an open-air amphitheatre, where Djonny finds himself contemplating events. Buildings featured in the film look the worse for wear. A grim ‘future’ is not that far away.

Reviewed at Screen Four, Picturehouse Central, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, 09:35am, Monday 5 October 2026. London Film Festival Press & Industry screening