Despite running the risk of being labyrinthine, Netflix’s Polish crime drama “Freestyle (2023),” directed by Maciej Bochniak, has the uncut energy of “Uncut Gems.” The continuous stacking of problems ensures that “Freestyle” never takes its foot off the pedal. Set in the backdrop of vibrant Polish hip-hop and the intriguing, albeit a bit overused, underbelly of the drug world, the film works mostly due to the earnestness in portraying the lead character’s predicament.
Freestyle (2023) Netflix Movie Summary and Plot Synopsis:
Diego (Maciej Musialowski) and Flour (Michal Sikorski) are friends with a common goal. They want to make it big in the world of hip-hop. Their anti-establishment rap performances have fans, which allows them to perform at a local level. However, their dream is to make it big and release an album. They need a recording studio for this, but Flour’s addiction habit creates problems with the studio owner. It appears he has stolen a microphone, and consequently, the studio owner is banning them unless the money is paid.
Flour says he can arrange the money with his side gig as a deliveryman for a drug dealer. On the day of the delivery, Flour is high as usual. So, Diego has to accompany him. While delivering the pills to the Slovak party, their flamboyant leader asks Diego if he can get him more potent stuff, meaning cocaine. Now, Diego was part of a cocaine dealing gang. With the need for money perpetually increasing, Diego could not help but go back to this gang. This gang is run by two brothers and is known as the “Brothers” gang.
However, this decision to go back to the “Brothers” gang has more than one complication for Diego. Diego is having a relationship with a girl, Miki (Nel Kaczmarek), who has a boyfriend, Baton (Filip Lipiecki). Baton is the right-hand man of the Brothers’ gang. Diego tries to get a kilo of the Brothers’ cocaine. But, he is not satisfied with that. He gets some of his other connections to prepare another kilo by tampering with the Brothers’ supplied stuff. Thus, he and Flour go to the Slovak party with two kilos.
However, the deal goes wrong as police barges in. Flour gets left behind, while Diego starts his running with multiple dangerous people at his tail. First, the Brothers’ gang finds out about this botched deal and finds that Diego tried to sell his own in addition to their supply. Baton drives a knife through Diego’s hand at the command of the brothers. Diego is given hours to come up with something to recuperate for the loss. Meanwhile, Kira, Flour’s sister, is worried for Flour.
Baton asks Diego to loot someone’s house. This house would turn out to be Diego’s father’s, Zibi’s house. Zibi is a gangster as well, and someone who other gangsters do not poke. One of the primary reasons the Brothers’ gang did not kill was because Diego was Zibi’s son. And as broken as their relationship might be, Zibi would not be happy to find his son gunned down by other gangs. Diego’s mission to rob Zibi’s safe also fails. On the other hand, Miki calls Diego to let him know that Baton knows about Miki and Diego’s relationship. The already dangerous situation becomes even more dangerous for Diego.
A still from Freestyle (2023).Freestyle (2023) Netflix Movie Ending Explained:
Who changed Diego’s stash?
Miki and Diego decide to leave the country and go to Milan. But before that, Diego wants to get as much money as possible. So, he contacts one of his friends who could get him a meeting with her father. This person is known as the “Sausage King.” But Diego knows he would buy the drugs at the right price. After much haggling, Diego is able to sell the cocaine he had in his stash. Then, he goes on to perform at the concert. One last time before he escapes. However, both the deal and concert go awry. The ‘Sausage King’ attacks Diego while he is performing for selling flour instead of actual cocaine.
Diego realizes that the cocaine from his stash was stolen and replaced with flour. He immediately suspects Baton as he was the one who put the cocaine in that stash. But, Miki and Diego later encounter Baton, and Miki runs her car over him. The injured Baton confesses that although he tracked Diego and Miki, he was not the one who stole the stash. That is when Diego starts to get the big picture as one more piece of information is presented to him. It is that the police who raided the Slovak party were not police at all. Diego realizes that everything is connected to his best friend, Flour. Police did not capture Flour, so he orchestrated the entire thing.
Apart from Baton and Diego, one more person knew where the cocaine was hidden as she was present in the room when Baton hid the cocaine. It was Kira, Flour’s sister. Diego tracks Flour down in a casino. He finds that both Kira and Flour are trying to win more money. Flour has a lot of debt. To none other than Diego’s father, Zibi, who is also a loan shark. Flour needed to get as much money as he could; otherwise, the lives of his parents would be at risk. Diego grabs the bag of money from the casino, jumps onto Miki’s car, and asks her to drive. But they cannot get away as a van crashes into them.
Did Diego Survive?
The crash injures Diego and Miki. It quickly becomes clear who caused this crash. It is the Slovak leader who believes Diego backstabbed him and robbed him. They take Diego and Miki to a deserted dock and try to kill them. But Flour makes the intervention just in time. With Flour’s help, Diego kills the Slovak leader. Just then, he receives a phone call.
What happened to the Brothers?
While trying to find Flour, Diego goes to his house. Here, he meets his own father, Zibi, trying to get his money back from Flour’s father. Zibi learns that the Brothers have set their eyes on Diego. So, later, we hear from a news channel that the Brothers’ headquarters have been burned down. No doubt, Zibi paid a visit. It seemed both brothers were dead.
However, the climactic call that Diego receives proves that the theory is incorrect. One of the brothers survived and has now marked Diego for vengeance. So, it seems Diego would be on the run once again. Perhaps Diego would never truly be free, and the film closes on that note.
Read More: Everything Coming to Netflix in September 2023
Freestyle (2023) Movie Links: IMDb
Freestyle (2023) Movie Cast: Maciej Musiałowski, Nel Kaczmarek, Michał Sikorski, Filip Lipiecki.
Where to watch Freestyle
