PLANETA SINGLI 2 (PLANET SINGLE 2)

Watchable. Unlike "Juliusz" no sexism. And more realistic than "Planeta Singli' ("Planet Single") one. It masterfully captures the social changes. Silver foxes - at least in their own eyes - hunt for women online. While they look for younger ones, older women have flings with younger men. Changing women's expectations to men feature heavily. One of male protagonists got stuck in the 80s - he's got "Rambo" posters on the wall and starts working out which is presented to the rhythm of Bonnie Tyler's "I need a hero (...) He's gotta be strong". Technology changes the dating scene which is exemplified by the VR date sequence. Men are quite life-like. Kids watch porn. Even the current political climate has made it into the romantic comedy: "Tv Info twierdzi, że już dwie lewicowe organizacje terrorystyczne przyznały się do próby zorganizowania tego porwania". ("Tv Info maintains that two leftist terrorist organisations have already confessed to the attempt of organising this hijack.") The rom-com layer is quite Christmas-style. I laughed just a few times but was smiling throughout. The scene of getting into a taxi is comical within the movie and is a clear reference to the "Taxi" cinematic series. The attempt of stopping a plane is funny too. Horror-style music sounds when the rasta woman's 5 kids appear. Still the film is a bit too sad and I don't like such insertions popular in Polish rom-coms. The main message of the film is that love defies algorithms. Make-up is very good for the first half of the movie when even lipstick perfectly matches women's tops. The film ends with a trailer of "Planeta Singli 3" ("Planet Single 3") - shot simultaneously with part 2 and to be relased for Valentine's Day - so don't leave the cinema till Maciej Stuhr tells you to. The only special attraction in the credits is: "Podczas realizacji filmu wszystkie zwierzęta świetnie się bawiły. Naszym kosztem." (All animals had great fun in the making of this movie. At our expense.")

THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS 2D VS. 3D

Watchable. Drowsy music by James Newton Howard with elements of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" is one of the elements that ruin the movie. Original Tchaikovsky would sound much more Disneyesque. Utterly American Sugar Plum's costume, Russian harlequins and tin soldiers. The castle resembles the Kremlin... surrounded by waterfalls. Most of scenography and costumes look as amateurish as a school theatre. A great disappointment. Only the mouse is cute. Amazing 3D though.

BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE

Watchable. Writer and director Drew Goddard had a brilliant idea of creating the movie like a puzzle in which each card has a reverse unlike its face value. The pattern of long, ordinary conversations each ending in a startling act of violence is good to a point. They're winding and mundane on the verge of being boring. Yet, what is revealed every time the card is turned, guarantees re-shuffling of the whole set. Great singing by Cynthia Erivo.

THE OLD MAN & THE GUN

Watchable. The elderly gentleman robbing banks is so charming you don't want him caught. Unfortunately the movie is so slow-paced it's probably best suited for people his age. Ironic humour brings on a smile but not laughter and is all grounded in references to the guy's old age. Based on a "New Yorker" article. 1981, when it's set, was long before CCTV in banks. Nowadays a story like that would be unconceivable.

UKRAINA! FILM FESTIVAL

VYPUSK'97/ВИПУСК '97 (GRADUATION '97)

Recommended. Very likeable characters. Well recreated reality of the 90s. A TV aerial "from Poland" - understood as high quality - is so sweet! But the main subject of this short film is loneliness of the about-40-year-olds. Chances lost professionally and personally drive them to the edge. Or at least make them do things they wouldn't have at young age. Deep psychology with fondness of the characters has created a delightful film.

ШТАНГІСТ (WEIGHTLIFTER)

Watchable. The core of this short film about a sportsman, his girlfriend, his coach and his mate is the troubled relationship with, his and hers, fathers and their impact on them as adults. He tries to make it in life but is as damaged as hers - she's used to abuse and he is aggressive. His actions are a bit erratic so hard to understand. In one of final scenes he drowns cats - I heard "Kurwa" ("Shit") and a gasp from the audience and, during the end credits, a group sigh of relief when we read: "No animals were harmed in the making of this film." 

OLENA/ОЛЕНА

Watchable. From Gdynia Film School - the school which actually teaches film makers not to bore the viewers. It does not. Still, the story is far-fetched, both in the terms of travelling from Ukraine via Poland to Sweden for a drug rehab and regarding the policeman and the girl taking to each other. The wallet is also found miraculously.

This film was nominated in Cannes, selected out of 2000 other films, 13 totally diverse ones were shown.
The lead actress is multilingual: Polish, Ukrainian, Lemko and Boyko and similarly multi-cultural. She's from a musical school.

MUSTAFA/МУСТАФА

Watchable. From 1944 (first the Tatars were exiled from Crimea by Stalin) to 2014 - Crimean Tatars' history in a nutshell. Presented in a variety of forms: archive footage, contemporary interviews, bits of animation and enactions with actors. Lets the layman understand the issue. Still, I'm not into the topic so it wasn't so engaging for me. I felt envious of the man though: Mustafa himself is a man of small posture but enjoying a huge respect and is very resilient to pressure.

The director was invited by activists to make the documentary, it was their idea, not his. They tried to show the picture in Russia but didn't succeed. 

KIBORGY/КИБОРГИ (CYBORGS)

Watchable. At first it appears to be just a war movie, with a group protagonist in that, but the conversations are quite in-depth and tackle the topic of what builds the national identity, on how flimsy pillars it's built in Ukraine. Part of it bears similarities with current Poland versus European Union conflict - is it best to go right preserving the national identity and creating hostilities or left giving up the nationhood? Professional cinematography, close-ups bring you close to the events. 

ШЛЯХЕТННИ ВОЛОЦЮГИ (NOBLE TRAMPS)

Watchable when seen again. Lets you catch more details in the event-rich plot.

To sum up the festival, presented films contained plenty of Polish references this year. Poland is seen as a Western country, almost a paradise on earth. I had an impression that many films were scripted or directed by women - in reality only 20% but even that gave the illusion of plenty. This year's presenter, Piotr Szygalski, created a warm, open atmosphere and was polite to the audience. The atmosphere at the whole festival was good owing to the staff, even if they, just like the movie makers, were incompetent at times. The only significant minus was organising a meeting with a director and actor of a great film at the same time another movie was starting.

LOOK AWAY

Recommended. Not scary so hardly a horror. A psychologic drama/thriller rather. With amazing roles of India Eisley as Maria and Harrison Gilbertson as her love interest. Excellent cinematography. Set among beautiful people eating healthy food, living in large modern houses in an upper-class neighbourhood and attending a clean, well-equipped high school. Can be interpreted in different ways. The reflection in the mirror may be her true self, her dark nature, an evil creature or her biologic twin enchanted into glass. The mirror scenes captivate and give you chills since we're used to the world where the mirror shows exactly what we are. Or maybe it still does in the film? Is it better to look away? And from what? The truth? The lies we're feeding ourselves with? Our dark side? Or the light part of our personality believing in everyone's benevolence? Great music. The family not accepting their beautiful, sensitive daughter because of her perceived imperfections and her best friend bitching her out of jealousy of her boyfriend should see themselves in the mirror of the film.

UKRAINA! FILM FESTIVAL

РІВЕНЬ ЧОРНОГО (BLACK LEVEL)

Watchable. Appears to be a sequence of scenes from the life of a wedding dress photographer. Without words, just like "Plemya" ("The Tribe") but not that emotional or shocking. Soothing rather. The actor in the lead role is excellent, especially in the dance scene.

СТРІМГОЛОВ (FALLING)

Watchable. The story of three young people, each of them trying to build a relation ship, gets a Ukrainian twist when the guy gets drafted to the army. That is even if the girl's dreams of emigrating to Berlin weren't Ukrainian enough. The German protagonist remarks that "Ukrainians live in the past" which sounds to me much like half the Poles do. 

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - NIGHT OF HORROR

I skipped "Suspiria" and "Ghost Stories" which I had seen in the past and saw only:

THE DARK

Watchable. Drags but the story's less ordinary than a usual horror. The ending's cheerful but baffling since it's inconsistent with the plot.

INCIDENT IN A GHOSTLAND

Watchable. The best movie of the night, the most dynamic so the rubbish bits are less rubbish. And it has a serious undertone of captives running into the fantasy realm to avoid facing the truth.

UKRAINA! FILM FESTIVAL

ДЕЛЬТА (DELTA)

Watchable. A tranquil documentary about a riverside village. The same drunks reappear a couple of times but different types of snow and ice look appealing and dogs play on the ice.

ШЛЯХЕТННИ ВОЛОЦЮГИ (NOBLE TRAMPS)

Recommended. Fantastic acting. How did they find such a multitude of talents? An amazingly smartly scripted old-style Lviv comedy. With apt music, including "Tylko we Lwowie" song. Shot on location in Lviv, only Africa was shot in... Kiev. 

Piotr Szygalski conducted the meeting with the director and one of actors with humour, much in place, after a comedy. The director is concerned about sales because investment in marketing should be as high as in the movie. Here it's far lower. Well, we'll see if the word of the mouth of many satisfied viewers will suffice.

KOLY PADAYUT DEREVA/КОЛИ ПАДАЮТЬ ДЕРЕВА (WHEN THE TREES FALL)

Watchable. After the meeting I got to this screening half an hour late. From the remaining hour of the film I can say that the gangster and social premise is quite standard but the girl's agony when she marries an unloved boring man after "her bandit's" death just breaks your heart. The magical world of the little girl is lovely, with quality CGIs and the girl acts like a pro.

UKRAINA! FILM FESTIVAL

БРАМА (THE GATEWAY)

Watchable. Grotesque comprehensible only to Ukrainians. While all the actors, especially Irma Vitovskaya as the granny, did their best, the script is so engrained in local history, I - an outsider recognised the terms of the great famine, Gorbatchev and successive occupations by foreign nations but had no emotions the Ukrainian nation certainly associates those events with.

53 WOJNY (53 WARS)

Watchable. The depiction of the stress of being a war correspondent's wife results in constant hysteria on the screen. Apparently the family constituted the safety vent for the husband, while she did not have that safety net. The symptoms of her combat stress are depicted but no explanation of the causes of such a reaction is provided. At least varied shots make it easy to watch. And even humour has sneaked in in the attempted divorce scene: "Są państwo zdecydowani?" "A, nie, ja tylko tak przyszedłem, bo żona prosiła." ("Are you determined?" "Ah, no, I just came because my wife asked me to.")

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

Recommended. Like Queen said it, "it's a masterpiece". The movie starts and ends together with credits so it's important not to miss a second. "Don't Stop Me Now" is played over the end credits and I didn't want it to stop. Actually, at the screening I was at the movie was looped and we genuinely felt like watching it all over again. Rami Malek has as much charisma as real Freddie Mercury did. He's so cute, I hope to see him in such roles more. It has some witty lines, e.g. after he's sung to his prospective band, who had turned him down just before, "I'll consider your proposal." I remember Queen well from the 80s but preferred a different band then. I've become a fan now! The songs are original by Queen, not Rami Malek. I felt like humming the music afterwards. The film charts more than the charts. In fact it does an amazing job showing the creative process, makes fun of a producer who failed to see wood for the trees, presents top quality songs, but also ups and downs of his private life, including the terminal disease. But the finale's cheerful. It doesn't exploit the depressing potential. "We are the champions (...) and we'll keep on fighting 'til the end" is more of the movie motto. Bryan Singer knows how to build a story.

7년의 밤 (SEVEN YEARS OF NIGHT)

Watchable. Cut a bit strangely. Starts with excerpts from the story you're going to watch. Later the action jumps to and fro all the time. The chaos aside, the crime plot is revealed gradually resulting in decent suspense. The story juxtaposes two ways of dealing with guilt: by a psychopath and by a regular person. The question of "what if I had behaved differently" is asked too. It's typically Korean so it's brutal and full of emotional yelling. The cinematography's pretty good, moslty dark, like the title implies, but clear and with orange hues of imaginary events. While both the Korean and the English title sound like Márquez' "Cien años de soledad" ("One Hundred Years of Solitude"), Polish "Siedem lat jednej nocy" is confusing and ruins the atmosphere.

HUNTER KILLER

Recommended. Purely for entertainment, the story's typically American, fictitious, set mostly on submarines. But: first you're struck by top-notch cinematography, after a while by an ingenious plot idea, next by smart tactics and finally by a jaw-dropping strategic manoevre. If you watch it in Polish, you'll hear original English and Russian dialogues but captions with location names or vessel types are in Polish only. 

LORO

Recommended. Paolo Sorrentino is best defined by "La Grande Bellezza" ("The Great Beauty") because this is what you find in all his movies. "Youth" comes to your mind during this one too. There's a very gentle reference to an altogether different film when a ship named "Cloud Atlas" can be seen briefly in the background. "Loro" is about 2,5 hours long and filled with stunning pictures, romantic ambient music and conversations of importance, It's best watched without previous reading of the movie synopsis so that awaiting the mythical "Lui" ("He") makes an impact. The world presented here by Sorrentino is multilayered. It talks about sales and of how people buy dreams - the salesman's phone call is a masterpiece. And about how futile it is to try to outsmart those who've got it all. And of how youth is what you have to make use of while it lasts. But the core question is how to live your life. Mesmerised by the splendour, glamour, richess and excess, on the side of decadence, "Lui" lives in, you feel there's nothing wrong in perpetual pleasure and that life's so short your true obligation is to please yourself, even ruining everything around you. That's the truth of human nature. It's best watched in the evening. It'll give you a good night's sleep. And if you see it during the day, the world outside is going to look disappointing afterwards.

LAS HEREDERAS (THE HEIRESSES)

Walked out. Elderly ladies talk about their daily matters. Shot in dark hues. No attractive personalities either. Just some rabbiting on. 

SUSPIRIA (2018)

Watchable. Not scary which disqualifies it as a horror. It's 2,5 hours long and does feel lengthy which makes it tiring. I preferred the old one. Luca Guadagnino got rid of vivid colours and glam. His Berlin of 1977 is poor, dull and activist. News of the Baader-Meinhof Group, comments on women's reproductive rights and their complaints not taken seriously as well as of the Nazi past feature prominently, more like a parallel plot rather than a background. Dakota Johnson - ginger-haired as Susie, you quickly associate it with the witch hair colour - shows off her muscles, her dancing skills and her body (though not the way she did in "Fifty Shades of Grey"). Tilda Swinton is amazing as the aged doctor, unrecognisable if I didn't know. The supernatural layer of the plot is treated differetnly as well. Witchcraft is revealed too early and their exploits with the police officer are disturbing. That scene, just like the one of stabbing Olga, are totally riddable. As for the range of scaring tools, mostly contorted mutilated bodies are used. Though clawed hands, reminiscent of the first movie, appear too. Knowledge of the original is not necessary but helps understand the Iris Room name or step counting. The post-credit shows Susie the Mother cutting the air with her hand to break the connection. Too long all that. 

CLIMAX

Some trivia from a meeting with director Gaspar Noe: The master shots weren't written. For the director a script is needed only to get funding: "Imagine if painters had to write down what they're going to paint", in reality actors are instructed on set, they don't read the script. He puts in the music he likes dancing to. The movie cost 2 million euro, 200 euro was the cost of music rights. He became a movie director because he didn't really know what to do in life: "At some point I wanted to be a drug dealer". Last but not least, while the film says it's based on true events from France, it's not true. The movie was inspired by the atmosphere at the Berghain in Berlin.

FIVE FLAVOURS FILM FESTIVAL

Random information and trivia: This year's festival, coming up in November will feature among others ""红海行动" ("Operation Red Sea") - a Chinese blockbuster from 2018, No. 1 in China, No. 9 in the world which is like American action cinema from the 80s. Midi Z, whose "14 Apples" will be shown, is a director known for his interest in new technologies, he makes 3D or panoramic movies to watch online and witness the story from different angles. Apparently Netflix and Amazon produce the most serials in Japan, not in the US. 2 episodes of "Folklore" will be shown in this festival and another two at the festival in Toronto. Another title is "서울역" ("Seoul Station") - the animation which was later renamed to feature "부산행" ("Train to Busan") - said to be full of suspense, you don't know when the zombies will attack. One of cartoons will be on misogyny. Chinese producers usually look for funds in European festivals or in the country. Taiwanese audience is rarely interested in local cinema. Asian Film Awards are aspiring to become Asian Oscars and are structured similarly. They present blockbusters in only 2 or 3 festivals in Europe and Five Flavours is one of the lucky two this year. AFA movies also attract the biggest audience to the festival. There'll be also a bookshop with books and DVDs, lectures and an onigiri ("a Japanese sandwich") workshop. The festival got no PISF (Polish Film Institute) funding this year. No Bollywood or similar genre will be presented due to the smaller number of movies. No North Korean productions either but there are few films made there so that's the reason.

Radio Azja Asian music festival will follow from 6th to 9th December and will include: German minimal techno combined with Asian tunes on the 1st day, bangra on the 2nd, the last but one performance is going to be a dance troup dancing as if they were flying to progressive music. There'll be a Bollywood dance workshop conducted by the bangra band. The performers at the music festival are often artists who create the music for the movies from the film festival.

SAMUI SONG

Recommended. The beginning's slow-paced. But the simple, separate scenes, step by step, build a story so ambiguous and puzzling it got my heart racing. Music, both Western, e.g. Mozart, and Thai, seamlessly blends in. The ending is bewildering. Did she run over herself? What was real and what was a movie? Did she imagine an alternative life with a woman? In the light of these doubts the role she practises before an audition sounds like what she's saying to herself. Even if the conversation with her agent on acting is tongue-in-cheek - taken the unusual movie we watch.

JESZCZE DZIEN ZYCIA (ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE)

Recommended. Hits you to the core. The story's moving on a quite human level, especially the charismatic female soldier who talks about her plans for after-the-war - she gets killed shortly and it just breaks your heart when you realize she won't have the children or her dream job as a nurse, or any other for that matter. The war is different than contemporary African warfare. Children didn't fight then. Kapuściński remembered a war from his childhood, he knew no other reality so he thought that was what the world looked like. The animation creates emotions, footage from present and past Africa provides facts. Kapuściński's words are the most important here. There's no banality. Telex cost so Kapuściński had become a master of terseness. It's also his war since he was the only reporter for 50 countries.

Now there's also just one Polish war correspondent abroad yet for different reasons. Nowadays journalists are shot at so it's impossible to travel through a war-torn land the way Kapuściński did.

SERCE NIE SLUGA

Watchable. I'm surprised it was scripted by a woman (Karolina Szymczyk-Majchrzak) since it's so sexist. It follows a typical Polish rom-com pattern where the guy sleeps around and the woman forgives him - two such men in this film alone. It's not fully a comedy though. While the comic bits are funny, e.g. "Nie widzi pan, że ja tu cierpię?!" "Nie może pani cierpieć gdzie indziej?" ("Can't you see I'm suffering?!" "Can't you be suffering somewhere else?") or "Jeśli to dziewczynka, to ty jej wybierasz imię. Basia byłoby ładne." ("If it's a girl, you give her a name. Basia would be nice."), it's tear-jerking in the ending. Paweł Domagała as the male lead is superb as always. But the plot, even though engaging, is pointless.

SMALLFOOT

Watchable. A very pleasant wintry tale full of fluffy yetis for some reason released in September. About interlingual and intercultural misunderstandings. Most of songs have been translated into Polish, only the two final ones are in the original. Dubbing by Channing Tatum, Zendaya, Danny de Vito in the original and a similar rank of Polish actors in the translation.

BBC EARTH EARTHFLIGHT 3D
BBC EARTH AMAZING PREDATORS 3D

Recommended. Both films are amazing, with the bird one slightly better due to the air-view shots making you feel like one of the flying creatures in a flock admiring a fascinating route of the landscapes below. Yet both documentaries captivate with their unique wildlife pictures. Shame in Poland they'll be available only at special screenings for schools, not on the general release.

UNGA ASTRID (BECOMING ASTRID)

Recommended. The story's poignant, intimately shown, with plenty of close-ups, but, most of all, shocking. Partly because of her religious family and partly due to the times her youth fell on, she had very little freedom as a teenager and, when she got pregnant at 16, she was forced to part with her baby. Her son at first didn't acknowledge the fact she was his mother. But, owing to her writing talent and diligence at work, she both made a living and created a home for her child. Her meeting Sture Lindgren, her future husband, is shown subtly and beautifully.

WARSAW FILM FESTIVAL

SZTUKA MONTAZU (THE ART OF EDITING)

This year Cezary Grzesiuk talked about film editing and film making, much in the context of his own documentary "Niebieskie Chachary" ("The Blue Scallywags") which took 10 years in the making and 1.5 years in post-production. During that time for between 1 and 3.5 years some of the protagonists were either imprisoned or sanctioned by the police which meant the director had no access to them. Getting funding was a pain in the neck. At some point a bank salesman offered him to present his project to the bank CEO if he helps him sell new bank accounts. So the director went to the capo di supporters and he got a promise of... 3 thousand bank accounts: "Ile chcesz? Tysiąc, dwa, trzy tysiące. Tylko im powiem, to założą". ("How many do you want? A thousand, two, three thousand? I'll just tell them and they'll set them up.") But the bank president did not support the movie due to the topic. Football fans are too infamous. At the time of shooting Cezary Grzesiuk was a single father taking his son with him to work: "Myślałem, że zostanie kibicem. Teraz on nie chce słyszeć o piłce nożnej." ("I thought he would become a fan. Now he doesn't want to hear about football.") He witnessed what the journey in special carriages for football fans looked like in reality. The bald guys in fact  throw away all alcohol on the train on which the supporters travel to away matches for more than 10 hours - that's however not in the film, they didn't let him film it. Right after the festival premiere he had a funny situation with a table in a bar he and the big bald guys went to to celebrate. First they collected a table and some chairs and moved away from the crowd. A waiter objected so one of the bald guys challenged him: "Chcesz nam zabrać ten stolik?" ("Do you want to take our table away?") The waiter turned back with no word. Then he returned with security stuff. Seeing that, the bald guy sat on the table and challenged the security guys: "No to zabieraj!" ("Take it now!") The football fans ended up sitting there all night. Sadly one of the protagonists, Kmicior, didn't live to see the film. The director/cinematographer discussed technical difficulties too. Sometimes he had to go with no preparation and no equipment so later he dealt with different resolutions and formats, e.g. he had to worsen HD. The film lasts 90 minutes, just like a match duration, out of 300 hours of material. Another story is of a riot caused by one guy who peed behind a Toi Toi cubicle, to skip a 100-metre queue. He knocked the Toi Toi and eventally... half a stadium burnt. As no one wanted to finance his project, Grzesiuk had to change the script. He wanted the voice of football fans, not of those who had had the voice so far, i.e. the police and the media, but the producer's condition was to present both sides to the conflict. It turns out the police get their expenses reimbursed only if guns are used which encourages them to resort to violence or even provoke it. The cinematographer experienced it himself. The law allows filming the police on duty. Yet the director's camera, worth more than 10 thousand zlotys, was smashed with a police baton. The police have never refunded him. I asked who usually decided on the length of a film and heard that very often it was the distributor. EU law defines the length of breaks between screenings in multiplexes since the air needs time to get exchanged. So, in order to have many screenings, they want movies to be short. Polish Television, very national nowadays thought of a way to screen it: "żeby to było o wyklętych albo żeby chociaż przodek był żołnierzem wyklętym." ("If only it were about the cursed soldiers or at least an ancestor had been a cursed soldier.")

SLEPNAC OD SWIATEL (BLINDED BY THE LIGHTS) - EPISODES 1-3

Recommended. Kamil Nożyński looks like Daniel Craig. Cezar Pazura acts surprisingly well, especially taken his extravagant protagonist. The music is amazing both in its own right and matching the plot. The cinematography glues you to the screen. Even the opening titles are great - submarine shots with whales and manta rays are superimposed on Warsaw. The Betlehem club looks like no-longer-existent Nowa Jerozolima. The constant cliff-hanger is Kuba's leaving Poland, presumably for good. Jakub Żulczyk, whose book the serial is based on, co-wrote the script. English subtitles are handy since the Polish drug dealers' slang isn't exactly transparent to the general public. At least I didn't get some bits in Polish.

SUSPIRIA (1997)

Watchable. Not scary nowadays but must have been then. Contains plenty of elements widely used in horrors nowadays: an amiable dog becoming a killer eating human flesh, maggots, gore, a witch from a centrury ago possessing a murdered girl's body, clawed fingers sliding through the door, a spirit visible only through a veil, sinister servants. In spite of the premise being a school of dance, it features no dancing.

LIBERAMI (DELIVER US)

Watchable. Nothing as shocking as what I have heard of from other sources. But worth seeing to understand why people seek this kind of help. The viewpoint of the priests and of the exorcised faithful is presented. Both sides admit "the possessed" are attention seekers. When the faithful have emotional issues or mental ones, e.g. drug abuse, in order to avoid the stigma of frequenting a psychiatrist they turn to exorcists who exhibit the care those troubled folk lack in their daily lives.

The screening was followed by a bizarre conference. Turns out now, in the 21st century, most Polish Catholics believe in possessions so, consequently, find exorcisms useful. The number of exorcists in Poland has grown enormously over the last 20 years. Priest Professor Kobyliński put it down to the pentecostalization of religion and called these practices abuse, to which Mariusz Błochowiak, who publishes monthly "Egzorcysta" ("Exorcist"),  reacted that priests with academic titles "intelectualize religion and negate the fact magic works". Exorcist priest Andrzej Grefkowicz claimed that in Poland it looked different than in the film about Sicily, Italy. Still, he maintained "blessed salt" was necessary in such practices. His proof was going to be a person who before and after being given salt coughed a lot. To me it's a clear effect of sucking, just like with sweets which also stop dry cough temporarily. To him it was a sign that "blessed" salt worked. Priest Kobyliński pointed out that in assessing whether the person needs an exorcism we have to take into consideration development of neuroscience, among others. He explained around 2007 preachers from Asia, Africa, Latin America imported their religiousness to Poland. They are perceived as antiheroes now. Absurds include use of sausage or head cheese to chase away the purported demon of vegetarianism or receiving text messages from Satan. They're amateurs but the changes are so deep that a big part of the Catholic Church takes them for a fact. Blochowiak insisted: "Devil has control over matter" hence text messages from him are "real". Michał Kondrat - the distributor, in the past an exorcist's assistant for 5 years - was against "psychologizing the rituals since they're followed by a healing". Priest Grefkowicz clarified that such people are first directed to a psychologic surgery  by which exorcists work. He confirmed it's hard to persuade a person to visit a psychiatrist. Still, he maintains possession "is always a result of breaking the first commandment". So the person must recant the other gods one by one. Priest Kobyliński saw it rather as destroying and humiliating, he knows of people harmed by exorcists where the prosecutor should step in. He added similar behaviours are exhibited by people when the person is ill, e.g. with Hashimoto's disease. Religions have been blooming since the 1990s, but mainly on the irrational level. Now pentecoastal that is syncretic churches dominate. Priest Grefkowicz, who has exorcised for 19 years, was convinced that what we saw in the movie were "authentic possessions" which he, "with his experience", could recognize immediately. Priest Kobyliński found pulling people by their hair and dredge them with salt were reprehensible, "we have religious illiteracy nowadays". Exorcisms are free of charge both in Poland and in Vatican. I enquired what the "correct" process of exorcisms looked like in Polant. Priest Grefkowicz listed several prayers. I remarked his answer was in opposition to what I had heard of: sexual harassment, torture, resulting even in spine damage. He sneered: "And you believe it?" "If we don't protect them, they can hurt themselves". I didn not continue. What do they protect them from while praying?! He sees the number of active exorcists to be sufficient in many dioceses. Blochowiak commented on the division between a mental illness and a posession: "mixed states are possible" of a mental disease and a possession simultaneously. About priest Kobyliński he said: "wrongly understood rationalism due to a lack of knowledge in the field". Priest Kobyliński asked a valid question: "Why would Satan possess a teenage girl?" "Evil incarnated was what happened in Poland in the beginning of the 20th century." At the same time even priest Kobyliński did not support the idea of a ban on exorcisms.

VIA CARPATIA

Watchable. The road through the south of Europe in search of a refugee presents Europe in a state of devastation, almost war-like. A bleak picture.

KAMERA AKCJA FILM CRITICS' FESTIVAL

I did not attend but from the announcement I know they were going to talk about violence in the film industry in Poland - with Agnieszka Holland and producer Natalia Grzegorzek, about new contemporary cinephiles with Grażyna Torbicka, about technologies. Case-studies were to include "Love Express. Zniknięcie Waleriana Borowczyka" ("Love Express. The Disappearance of Walerian Borowczyk"). A few 10-second screenings were planned too.

MES PROVINCIALES (A PARIS EDUCATION)

Watchable. Lengthy but engaging. Black and white so Paris as such is practically missing. The focus is on dialogues and acting. Both are filled with philosophy but the storyline's clear: he comes to Paris leaving everything and everyone behind, gradually his newlife destroys the remnants of the old one, but he's got no vision of his future and scrambles aimlessly. He doesn't make it in life. He's hanging on the hinges of his dreams. Plenty of smoking additionally reminds you it's French, even if it weren't for all the philosophy.

CLIMAX

Recommended again. It was only at the second time that I paid attention to the books and videos beside the monitor on which you see the casting at the beginning of the film. They're quite significant and include among others: Fritz Lang (the man behind "M" - a film about  a murderer), "Un Chien Andalou" ("An Andalusian Dog" - surrealism with some scenes of violence), "Suicide, Mode d'Emploi" ("Suicide Manual" in free translation), "Suspiria" (a horror about a dance school), "Possession", "Le droit du plus fort" ("Fox and His Friends", literally translated would be "The right of the stronger one"), "Mon dernier soupir" ("My last sigh" - by surrealist Luis Bunuel who, together with Salvador Dali, created "Un Chien Andalou"). The film, well worth watching twice in full length, is said to be based on true events from 1996. At the same time director Gaspar Noe is evasive about what incident exactly it's regarding so I'm not sure if it really happened, even if it seems probable. 

JAK PIES Z KOTEM (A CAT WITH A DOG)

Watchable. Only for informative value regarding what problems you may encounter if you end up taking care of a family member after a stroke. Alternatively for Kondratiuk's fans to see their authentic house and pets since it was shot in the family residence. Other than that it's slow, lengthy, disturbing as the man is deprived of his dignity and because the care division is quite sexist: the male caretaker drinks with his paralysed brother and his wife changes his diapers. The case of the disabled man's alcoholic wife whose sister's husband extorted her savings and car is true as well - in court now.

WIES PLYWAJACYCH KROW (VILLAGE OF SWIMMING COWS)

Watchable. Beautiful cinematography by Andrzej Wojciechowski is flattering to all the protagonists and makes for a pleasant watching. The documentary showcases two sides to country life: freegan, vegetarian, money-free, naturalist attitude of the visitors from Berlin and the farm, carnivorous, money-earning approach of the hamlet dwellers. Interesting and presented clearly but I know both the zero growth ideology and the Podlasie mentality very well so to me it's just a summary of what I'm aware of already.

VENOM AT IMAX 3D

Recommended. The plot and even the music score draw on "Spider-Man" with the difference that here the hero is adult and there are some mild sex references. The movie's also preceded by and ends with a post-credit announcing a cartoon version of "Spider-Man" - Spider-Man's universe is said to be alternative to Venom's. The film's got more plot than just a punch-throw-and-shoot action and is convincingly acted, especially by Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed. It's not too long either. The 3D is decent but it's the plot and the music that make the movie. Just like in "The Predator" aliens fight each other. An unusual friendship bond is formed too. Stan Lee makes a cameo as a passer-by with a dapper dog. The villain must have been partly modelled on Elon Musk - mega-rich at young age and dreaming of conquering the space. A mid-credit with Woody Harrelson announces a sequel. The soundtrack and audio effects are fantastic. Dolby Atmos sound, even when played in the ordinary 5.1 format, is so powerful you feel tremors without 4DX. 

JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN

Recommended. I giggled and laughed out loud. Others did too. Rowan Atkinson is hilarious whether he eats hot food or saves the United Kingdom. In the face of a cyberattack you have to go analogue. That comes in handy since Johnny English doesn't do digital. He's backwards in other ways too. A female submarine commander is beyond his imagination. But the world of the MI7 agent does carry the old time charm. Olga Kurylenko - yes, the one from "Quantum of Solace" - wears fabulous cocktail dresses.  

NINA

Walked out. Vulgar language repulsed me first. Conversations about nothing in such language didn't help. Blurred pictures are the least of the problems. 

THE PREDATOR AT IMAX 3D

Watchable too. Makes a significantly bigger impact on the large screen. 3D helps a little as well. The sound is sufficient but nothing to compare with the virtuosity of Dolby Atmos. What I can add to my previous review is that the earlier movies are referred to as if they really happened and this one provides an explanation why. Autism is presented as "the next step in the evolution chain".

BERGMAN - ETT AR, ETT LIV (BERGMAN: A YEAR IN A LIFE)

Watchable. About all his life, not just one year. Interesing enough as it shows how a talent in one field doesn't transfer to character traits. Bergman was both an acclaimed film director - although in his time just showing sex on the big screen was a challenge enough - and a bully at work. He also had affairs and children with a number of women. Clearly a product of the patriarchal era. I guess the documentary would make a bigger impression on me if I had seen any of his movies. I'm not much interested though. The excerpts looked archaic enough. I'm much more into new technologies in movie-making.

SUI DHAAGA. MADE IN INDIA

Watchable. Just one song - played twice. In one scene what was to be a language joke results from the scriptwriter's poor English so can be funny only to a less educated audience. But the plot is truly Bollywood - about a family and with surprises along the way. The story contains a few real life undertones: big businesses taking advantage of small ones, exorbitant hospital bills in India ruining poor families, sewing machines for the poor sold on the black market. Yet here, like one of the protagonists remarks, the machines are from China so he sells Indian clothes back to the Chinese market. 

Whistles and torches from part of the audience (Indian teenagers to be specific) were a serious disturbance.

7 UCZUC (7 EMOTIONS)

Recommended. A screening is like a group katharsis. The film starts with a middle-aged guy talking about his issues which imply his suffering from BPD but what follows is how everyone spent their childhood last century. Painstakingly rendered reality of a few decades ago. Disturbing, especially killing a dog. For some reason all characters use a specific language, with repetitions characteristic of hesitant people, especially those from the lower end. Middle-aged or even elderly actors are casted as children which makes the whole movie quite unique and at the same time leads to theatrical-style exaggeration. 49 actors in total. Cezary Żak, famous for his early role of a tram driver, here makes a cameo as a train conductor. Also my friend Beata Wójcik appears in the movie - as one of the class, she's the girl jumping in the ending and she's really good in the small role. The core idea is the validation of children's feelings. The result is powerful and thought-provoking.

NIE ZOSTAWIAJ MNIE (LEAVE ME NOT)

Walked out. Do leave - the cinema! Protracted and depressing. About a 17-year-old with no aim in life. The sound is not synchronised with the picture and has an aftersound. The same lame song is played over and over again. Conversations about nothing. Accidental editing. The film lacks a point.

MAYHEM

Watchable. Unsophisticated fun based on revenge but with fantastic music by Steve Moore. Set in the corporate world where people covet a key card to the management floors and intrigues are rife. It's like several American Psychos locked in one building for symbolic 8 hours. Lots of stylish violence entails. Extremely well acted by Steven Yeun and Samara Weaving.

DEN SKYLDIGE (THE GUILTY)

Recommended. An intense crime drama set all in a police alarm phone control room. Not everything in the story is what it seems. The guilty are both individuals and institutions. Masterfully acted by Jakob Cedergren and the whole background cast. Resembles Russian "Vindicator" in the way a gripping story is built from a number of phone calls. 

SEARCHING

Watchable. Built entirely out of messenger or video chats and TV footage which makes it tiring to watch. If I wanted to browse Facebook or watch vlogs, I'd stay home. As a thriller though it's engaging, with a number of red herrings. On the social level the search reveals how people attempt to bask in the five minute fame around the missing girl ("I was her best friend"). The ending's predictably happy and cheesy.