Pornography is a consistently compelling film, but writer/director Jan Jakub Kolski tries to cram so much of Witold Gombrowicz's darkly satirical novel into 117 minutes that the result is somewhat muddled. Well shot and expertly performed, the film manages some sardonic laughs and a few memorable dramatic moments, but there's simply too much going on. Kolski is juggling too many thematic issues, and, as a result, it's a movie which seems to skim the surface of its subject matter. For example, the film touches briefly on Polish intellectual gatherings during the war, Jewish refugees hiding in the countryside, the loss of religious faith, and the relationship between class and sexuality without exploring any of these subjects with any depth. There are too many characters who impact the complex plot but remain vague in terms of personality and motivation. Krzysztof Majchrzak gives an engaging lead performance as the charming, but strangely bitter, Frederick, and that does a lot to help overcome the film's scattershot nature. Pornography is a thought-provoking and well-made film crammed with incident, but it seems like some streamlining would have made the novel's transition from page to screen more rewarding.