Movie reviews

MOWA PTAKOW (BIRD TALK)

Watchable. 2 hours 15 minutes - it's long and you feel it. What is it about? It's a drug-fuelled vision/artsy videoclip/experiment. Sebastian Fabijański put it best: you need to feel the movie, not understand, "I'd go out but I'm not sure, I kind of like it." - I totally agree with the actor. The movie's certainly weird. Very well directed (by an obscure Polish director) though, based on a script the director didn't understand. He plays with colours a lot, e.g. in the fantastic view of central Warsaw. I loved the fact he depicted Catholics and nationalists as bullies. I also enjoyed the scriptwriter's playing with the language. The beginning's chaotic. But the film rewards you with superb cinematography by Andrzej Jaroszewicz - especially a camera with a mirror is impressive, also visual effects in post production by Studio Orka, good music and excellent actors: Sebastian Fabijański, Jaśmina Polak, Żaneta Palica, Marta Żmuda Trzebiatowska, Katarzyna Chojnacka. Sebastian Fabijański speaks English perfectly well in the film but his Russian has too strong Polish accent. The film's divided into chapters. When you finally see "Koniec" ("The End"), "Początek" ("The beginning") appears... afterwards.

Director Xawery Żuławski says that "you don't have to like it." It's an expression of freedom. It's based on his father Andrzej's script. The director finally understood it himself only after seeing it several times. Apparently, famous Polish critic Tomasz Raczek tried to summarise the film and failed. We don't understand birds' talk. 
According to the composer, Andrzej Korzyński, the film contains reminiscences of music themes from Andrzej Żuławski's movies. Basically, the music is contemporary but the director and the composer based it on themes from those films. 
Sebastian Fabijański's father used to run a video rental shop. From what I could hear he had the same movie interests as me at the time though his family background was totally different. He would watch Kurt Russell, e.g. "Escape from New York". His father only went to a vocational school and his mother went to university when she was past 40. He's single, childless, walks round his home in shoes since he's always on the road.
Another actor from the film, Sebastian Pawlak loves "hardcores and pathologies."
Only male creators and actors were at the Q&A. Żaneta Palica has a boyfriend in France so has gone there already. Do only men promote themselves?
Most scenes weren't in the script, only dialogues were so the director added contemporary scenes. In the scene at Wiatraczna Roundabout in Warsaw (those who live here, will know the place in a rundown district of Grochów), the woman is an authentic passer-by who walks into the frame, slaps the actor in the face and tells him not to fool around: "Weź ty nie pajacuj!"
I learnt more about cultural codes from the director - some bits refer to the Polish culture. Even I hadn't understood some. 
Sebastian Fabijański explained why leprosy had appeared in the film: "Każdy w tym filmie jest chory. Muzyk musi cierpieć." ("Everyone in the movie is sick. A musician has to suffer.") The director treated the characters archetypically: they are penniless, ill, wear coats. The leprosy which leads to the man's penis falling off symbolises "ball-less Polish art".
Olbrychski apparently said: "Andrzej, ty mi tego nie tłumacz, bo ja ci to jeszcze zrozumiem i to zagram." ("Andrzej, don't explain it to me, or I may understand and I'll play it".)
Someone from the audience asked if a director's cut was in plans. But Xawery Żuławski asserted: "Nie, to już wersja bardzo reżyserska." ("No, it's a very director's cut already.")
The director worked on Tyrmand's "Zły" for 5 years  till he got kicked out by Tyrmand's son. The movie still hasn't been made. He's made several serials and commercials and is working on two films now. 
He droned on and on like the film did. He just can't cut things short.

Z WNETRZA (FROM WITHIN)

Watchable. Beksiński, who's become a posthumous celebrity in Poland, left behind 1500 fantastical paintings. But the film is a usual Polish documentary without a commentary. It shows communist times well. It's implied that the five-year contract he was bound by limited him, it constrained the artist within him. But apart from such legal issues, you don't learn much about the person. Also, the reasons of the other 2 deaths in his family are explained but not the painter's murder. 

It was co-produced by FINA (National Audiovisual Institute). After the screening I asked the director about the murder. It turns out the household helper's son attempted to rob him, after he failed, his mates ridiculed him and then he went back upstairs and killed the artist.

WAR 

Recommended. Absolutely awesome, top-notch Bollywood. Spectacular, with two hotties in the lead roles: legendary Hrithik Roshan and taekwondo fifth-degree black belt Tiger Shroff. While I had to google the details about his sports prowess, you can recognize genuine taekwondo in all his combat scenes. Both are proficient dancers too. As for the action in "War", it starts in about the second minute - right before the opening credits. And the events in this spy story, gripping from minute one, take you round the world. Literally, since the movie was shot in a staggering number of locations, including Portugal, Italy (Matera and Positano), Norway, Finland, Georgia, Australia (Bondi Beach) and some other I can't remember. It's one great wow!

Why is it I get to see more taekwondo in Bollywood than in Korean movies?

A DOG'S JOURNEY

Watchable. So terribly sad: about personal and professional failures, diseases and death, that it leaves you depressed and reminds you of all your life's failings and ailments. But with a few funny bits, e.g. when the dog comments on people's actions. Trent is great - you'd love to have a friend like him. Marg Helbengerger (of "CSI" fame) as middle-aged and elderly Hannah. Good dubbing in Polish, especially by Marcin Dorociński as the dog. 

OSTATNIA GORA (THE LAST MOUNTAIN)

Watchable, Another Polish documentary without a commentary. You learn a lot about what's it like to climb the Himalayas. You see the crew watch Kamil Stoch ski jumping, listen to Indian music, compare food in different bases but also suffer traumas like cuts or fractures as well as equipment damage. Still, no clear plot. 


PRZEMIANY FESTIVAL 2019 - APPETITE AND APATHY

IN DEFENSE OF FOOD

Watchable. Nothing new. Processed foods are bad. The rest is fine. With examples from round the world and varied presentation methods so it's engaging enough.

UNFOLD

Recommended. A vlog-based Polish documentary which removes the fear of GMO instantly. It turns out all farmed plants have been modified. There are no wild strawberries for example. Bananas used to be hard and have seeds. Yet with traditional interbreeding you don't know what you're going to obtain. If you add just 1 gene to a plant, you know the effect, e.g. the plant can become glyphosate- or pest-resistant. Another example of modifications are dogs - interbred from wolves. Curiously, epigenetics, i.e. changing the expression of genes and mutagenesis, e.g. radiating seeds are legal. 

MORE THAN HONEY

Recommended. Bees turn out to be cruel. Not only does the first queen to hatch (all those fed with pollen milk become queens instead of workers) kill all other, in the US, African killer bees kill both people and ordinary, mild bee queens. But it's the deadly ones that don't fall ill hence don't need antibiotics. While bees produce toxin-free honey to give their babies the best, we rob it from them, giving them sugary water instead. In China, Mao Zedong once ordered killing all sparrows as they ate crops. That caused an insect plague so insecticides were used but those killed bees. Nowadays people pollinate plants manually themselves though they're no match for bees, of course. American driving beehives round the states over the year is more effective. But the world's best honey? Wild - in Australia - the continent where domesticated bees are interbred with wild ones to become a more resilient species in the future. These and plenty of technicalities of rearing bees in this all-round documentary.