For a mere 15-minute student film, Kieslowski is able to fit several layers of meaning within the characters and the story. On its surface, this film at first seems to be about a couple on a camping trip and a group of rowdy students and their driver who are parked not that far from the couple. A tent is lost and retrieved. Well, there is much more than that. Kieslowski initially juxtaposes the sober couple with the lecherous and drinking students and connects them through one of the students who in more modern times would be referred to as a "nerd." The nerd does not participate in his fellow students' drinking, music and reverie, but instead plays with a football (soccer ball) which leads him to watch the couple from afar. When we first see the couple, they are packing up their camping equipment, and Eva is combing her hair. She asks her boyfriend if her part is even and without looking he says "yes" and continues on with his packing. She tries to comb his hair, which he later messes up. He then has to fix their motorbike, and he dismisses Eva's smiles towards him. In general, he is rather cold towards her amorousness. The couple appear a bit older than the students, and in particular the boyfriend is all business (packing, fixing the bike, testing the headlamps.) Whereas the students are free and could care less about their inebriated driver, who as the only adult there is careless about his students. At one point while the bike is being fixed, Eva notices that the students are leaving as well. The students know that the couple are getting ready to go, too. Once they are on their way, their bike eventually passes the bus and the students yell out the window at them. We notice Eva's left hand moving backwards (she might be loosening the tent.) As they pull away, the tent is left in front of the bus on the road. Farther down the road, the driver realizes the tent is gone, and he says he could care less about it. Eva insists on going back because the tent was a gift and her ID is in it (we later find out that the ID is in his jacket.) She is attracted to the free, fun-loving students (who we hear listening to a song that repeats "20 years old") who probably remind her of her recent past before getting with the boyfriend. Interestingly, she is asked by him after the two excuses "Why do you want to go back there?" She mentions the ID again. When they finally realize that the driver has the tent, the driver asks for a finders' reward. Eva says they have no money and then agrees to go with the students in response to their request. (If her boyfriend is not worried about the tent, it would seem that they have money.) At this point, Eva clearly wants to have fun with the group. All along, the nerd lingers. The man then decides to give back his tent and get Eva to come back with him. For the first time in the film, the couple are loving and happy. She realizes that he cares for her, and he realizes that he has to be a bit warmer to her. As they fade out of the shot, a pop song plays: "Never again stare at me with those eyes," which is a direct reference to the boyfriends' coldness earlier. We watch the couple move up and down on the undulating road and finally out of the shot, which indicates the ups and downs of any relationship. In all, this is an excellent short film. There are some directors who cannot place into a two hour film what Kieslowski put in a 15-minute student project.

It is generally believed that a short film with glimpses of unrequited love is an oddity.Kieslowski proves that such is not the case with his protagonists as a sensible winner can do everything in order to make things work for him.Leave us,play your silly tricks elsewhere.This is the one of the most pertinent message which can be deduced from Krzysztof Kieslowski's short film "Koncert Zyczen".It is much more than a simple boy takes his girl on a picnic story.Kieslowski shows us that betrayal can happen at an early stage in case of two people's relationships.He asks an important question:What should be important to a man ? His girl's companionship or some obscure identity card ? There are a lot of irresponsible young people in this film yet Kieslowski is in no mood to mock them.He is rather willing to show them as they are with all their strengths and weaknesses.Like young people from other countries,Kieslowski suggests that even young people from Poland have a penchant for music,carefree life,fun and frolic.This is the best non political,non ideological message of this film.

*** POSSIBLE MINOR SPOILERS ***

I think that 'Concert of Wishes' is best viewed as what it was: an unpolished short film from film school. Short films, for me anyway, are less interesting than features. They can be very difficult to pull off because your narrative and the point of your film has to be focused in on intensely and quickly. You don't have the budget, time or luxury to be self-indulgent. What 'Concert of Wishes' offers is the promise of a film-maker who would go on to bigger and better things.

The film is about a young man and his girlfriend on a camping trip. On the other side of the lake are a bunch of young buffoons (a guy with glasses and a ball is the only exception). Both groups are leaving around the same time. As the young couple passes the bus their tent falls off and the buffoons take it. The girl insists they go back for the tent and when they do, the buffoons say they will only exchange the tent for the girl. Hijinks ensue.

Two things I liked about the film: 1)the curiosity. The camera is probing and curious. It is always watching and seeking out. The boy with the ball is running through the woods but the camera peeks out at him from behind trees, never trying to reveal himself. The boy himself becomes an observer. He conceals himself in the trees and watches as the young couple pack up their camp site and prepare to leave. Characters in this film tend to either stare intensely at you like the boy (or those children of the corn wannabes at the road side) or stare at you as extroverts (like the boys on the bus who want to swap the girl for the tent). 2) the menace. This is a very menacing film and I thought it was pretty effective. When the young couple passes the bus on their motorcycle they are harassed. Realizing they've lost the tent, the guy would rather just forget about it. The girl wants to go back and retrieve it. A test? I'm not sure. It is menacing when they get back to the waiting bus. They are surrounded and I found myself wondering if they were as likely to get the tent back as they were to be robbed, raped and murdered.

I'm not sure if the tent or the ID papers were more important. The girl says that her papers were in the tent that they lost. It turns out that her boyfriend had them in his pocket. Did either of them know they were there or not? The boyfriend isn't distant with his girlfriend but he's not warm either (think of his annoyance at having to part her hair instead of finishing packing and repairing the motorcycle). Is her willingness to be exchanged for the tent a test of his true feelings? And is her willingness to go a test for the boy of her true feelings? All of this depends upon whether or not they knew the true location of the papers.

I find myself left with more questions than answers. It's a moral film and there may be some allegorical reference to society in Communist Poland that I don't get. Maybe as I watch it again I'll find the answers that I want.