Movie reviews

THE NIGHT HOUSE

Watchable. A horror, a psychological thriller or even a love story, depending how you interpret the story. Gripping, with an original, smart storyline, partly based on a pun, memorable scenes, e.g women jumping off a cliff, a number of decoys in the plot. Yet something just doesn't ring true. The devil is in the details. If her accident happened more than a decade ago, why was her husband sleepwalking just the last 2-3 years? She didn't sense any putrid smell in the abandoned house which puts a question mark on one revelation. Also, does the doll matter or not? It seems the action could do just as well without it. Finally, would a woman in mourning really be preoccuppied with fantasies about love-making? 

OLD

Recommended. Holidays - shot in the Dominican Republic so you get the vibe. Hotel guests are lured into a trip to a a cove surrounded by dramatic cliffs which soon really become dramatic. There's an air of mystery pervading the film, a spotlessly conducted action and a series of original ideas of the kind I love in some of M. Night Shyamalan's movies. In this case the director first welcomes you back at the cinema, praising the advantages of the big screen - I fully agree - and showing his face which you later recognize as the hotel bus van driver in the movie. But it's more than just a cameo, he's the guy who's filming the events which puts him in a double role and adds a twist to the story. The plot seems inspired by the pandemic and antivaxxers' fears - though does not mention any epidemic or preventive measures, it's just my assumption. The film is simply a fantastic tale likely to appeal to a number of people. And I haven't even mentioned the eponymous subject matter which makes it timeless.

ZUPA NIC (HOME TOWN)

Recommended. Not an easy movie but the reality of the 80s in communist Poland: costumes, hair, make-up, interiors, exteriors, cars, music, foods and drinks, vocabulary, behaviours, social norms of the time are meticulously recreated for this tragicomedy. Even the final song, with contemporary lyrics, sounds like from the 80s. It puts you on an emotional swing, where protagonist's frustrations range from downright humiliating and disheartening ones, like the failure to go trading abroad, to hilarious like having to push the car - a common occurrence back then. This often disturbing bit of history is perfectly directed by Kinga Dębska.

However realistic this family tale is, it makes you ponder how whole generations survived all that. Even more, considered it normal. 

LASSIE - EINE ABENTEUERLICHE REISE (LASSIE COME HOME)

Recommended. Based on a book written in 1940, the story has made me cry a number of times over the years since childhood - partly ruined by such sad movies. The new adaptation is German and Germans know how to shoot children's movie. There are two lovely pooches and Lassie's adventures as well as the children's search for the dog provide a full emotional gamut: tension, anger, sympathy and amusement. Following the dog's trail keeps you in suspense, upsets you when the conniving thief appears to succeed, makes you feel sorry for the drowning dog and but also giggle at the butler's sobbing. But it's a light version, where the incidents aren't serious and all ends perfectly well. In Polish cinemas it's available only dubbed in Polish.

HELLO AGAIN - EIN TAG FUR IMMER (HELLO AGAIN)

Watchable. A romantic version of "Groundhog Day". Shoddy cinematography, the protagonist who's a mess and a day she relives over and over again until she gets it right. And that last part works, a decent script saves the movie. The beginning is rubbish but each subsequent day is different, the effect of her actions can't be quite foreseen so it becomes engaging. I have to observe it's a romantic drama, 'cause comedy it is not.

Funny how many mid-pandemic post-lockdown movies tell about reliving the same day over and over or about skipping years of life.

POLANSKI, HOROWITZ. HOMETOWN

Recommended. The beginning is almost boring - two old chaps remember their childhoods, but when you hear how badly they and their families were affected by the Holocaust in their formative years it's tear-jerking. Little do they say about those times which must be literally unspeakable to them even 70 years later. But what you do hear is heart-wrenching. The post-war communist regime didn't show them mercy either. On the other hand, you realize that those Poles who saved Jewish children granted us renowned personalities in art. Disgusting details like nose hair or peeing at the cinema knock the famous film director and photographer off the pedestal. In fact, they take themselves down a peg. Though I much preferred the existential joke - Horowitz, asked whether he would like to live his life again without changing a thing, answers: "Nie, ja chciałbym urodzić się na Hawajach." ("No, I'd like to be born in Hawaii.") Old photographs appear three-dimensional due to layering: elements of the picture are cut apart to create the impression of space. But maybe, like Horowitz says, some things are best forgotten.