Rock and roll can give you freedom.
It can also take almost everything else.
Netflix has released the official trailer for Less of a Stranger, a new Polish drama inspired by the life and memories of Jan Borysewicz, guitarist, songwriter and leader of the legendary rock band Lady Pank.
Mikołaj Bukrewicz makes his major screen debut as Borysewicz, following the musician from an ambitious young guitarist obsessed with rock music to the frontman of one of Poland’s biggest bands.
But this isn’t being presented as a simple rise-to-fame story.
Set against the restrictive reality of communist-era Poland, the film explores a period when rock music represented something larger than entertainment. For Borysewicz and his generation, it could become an act of rebellion, a means of self-expression and a taste of a freedom that was considerably harder to find elsewhere.
His refusal to play by other people’s rules eventually helps propel Lady Pank to enormous success.
Then the cost begins to appear.
The story tackles family tragedy, personal loss, excess, clashes with authority and the strain success places on both Borysewicz and the band around him. Netflix describes the film as a bittersweet portrait of an artist balancing on the line between creative greatness and self-destruction.
Bukrewicz is joined by Hubert Miłkowski, Krzysztof Oleksyn, Mikołaj Matczak and Marcel Barra as members of Lady Pank, while Patryk Pietrzak plays Andrzej Mogielnicki, the band’s co-founder and principal lyricist. Kinga Preis and Ireneusz Czop also star.
The film is directed by Kristoffer Rus from a screenplay by Wiktor Piątkowski and Joanna Kozłowska.
Importantly, Borysewicz himself has been involved in the project and has made clear that he didn’t want his story polished into a comfortable rock-star fantasy. The film is intended to include the successes, the mistakes and the consequences of building a life almost entirely around music.
And naturally, Lady Pank’s music plays a major part in it, with some of the band’s best-known songs appearing throughout the film.
For Polish audiences, those songs have accompanied several generations.
For everyone else, Less of a Stranger could be an introduction to a rock story that unfolded on the other side of the Iron Curtain — where playing loud music sometimes meant considerably more than just wanting to become famous.
Less of a Stranger arrives on Netflix worldwide on October 7, 2026.
