“Forst”. Remigiusz Mróz wrote, Borys Szyc played. Critics’ opinions are very divided

“‘Forst’ from Netflix is ​​one of the better and well-thought-out crime productions based on books that have appeared recently” – Anna Bortniak from Spider’s Web. Appreciates, among others: mountain frames, condensing the content known to Mróz’s readers and mixing the threads. In her opinion, Szyc is a very well-chosen Wiktor Forst who is trying to solve the mystery of brutal murders in the Tatra Mountains. The director is Daniel Jaroszek, winner of the Audience Award at the Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia and four Eagles for his feature-length debut “Johnny”.

“Forst” now on Netflix. Complaints mainly about the script

Andrzej Kulasek from “Gazeta Wyborcza”, however, says that the production is disappointing. The series directed by Daniel Jaroszek is based on two novels by Remigiusz Mróz: “Exposure” and “Przewieśnie”. “Perhaps in the books it all fits together logically. Because in the series this mishmash doesn’t come together. It’s an exhausting mess, saved by script shortcuts or rabbits drawn out of a hat,” he accuses. Most reviewers write about “Forst” in a similar tone.

Agata Malesińska (“Deep in the Forest”, “The Girl and the Cosmonaut”) and Jacek Markiewicz are responsible for the script of the six-episode series. Apart from Szyc, the cast also included Andrzej Bienias, Kamilla Baar, Aleksandra Grabowska, Szymon Wróblewski, Maciej Pesta, Michał Suwada, Tomasz Pogoń, Artur Barciś and Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik.

“‘Forst’ with Borys Szyc in the main role will arouse emotions in viewers. It will irritate some, delight others” – Małgorzata Major for Wirtualne Media. “Forst is another silent type who is chased by women in droves, and he accepts this interest with nonchalant acceptance. It may not be the Hank Moody vibe (…), but in 2024 you can already be tired of another narrative, in whose superbad leads women to their doom, and most of them have to pay for this acquaintance with their lives. For this reason and other patterns that the series uses (a serial killer, the hero’s difficult childhood, the past casting a shadow over the present, problems at work), you may have the impression that you have seen it somewhere before. And you won’t be wrong, because “The Raven” by Maciej Pieprzyca uses similar motifs, but in a slightly different aesthetic, although it is a crime story, and a crime story at that,” he notes.

‘Forst’ from Netflix impresses with the quality of production, the atmosphere straight from Scandinavian thrillers and is very disappointing with a lame script

– Marcin Kończewski from Film.org.pl. “At the level of creating the atmosphere, acting, editing and cinematography, it is good, if not very good. This is usually enough. More demanding viewers, however, may be disappointed with many clichés, plot shortcuts, strange construction of some character threads and lack of script consistency,” he argues.

“A weak script – the dialogues are simply poor and unnatural – also mean weak characters, which is a millstone around the neck of the Netflix production. Forst is only half a page written in a notebook, it’s a pity that Szyc, as always, is good for such poor material, and the relationships between “The characters don’t look like origami, they look more like paper airplanes.” – Bartosz Czartoryski for Onet.