Movie reviews

KINO W TRAMPKACH (CINEMA IN SNEAKERS)

JAN KOMASA MASTERCLASS

What does he say about his profession, his body of work and himself?

Persuasion is vital: first to get funding, next 60 people on set. So believing in your mission is essential. Otherwise people sense your hesitation. He has a recurring nightmare in which he is woken by someone in a tent: "everyone's waiting." He leaves and sees hundreds of extras in knights' armour and he's got no idea. 8 assistants wait for him to obey. So he comes up to a horse: "No, it was going to be white" and looks for excuses. What if he inspires all to believe in it more than he does? 

"Cast Away" had one protagonist growing attached to a ball which was cheap to shoot. Hence the idea for "Sala samobójców" ("Suicide Room") - about someone who's been closed for a year and must be dragged out by force. Now he notices that 15 years ago he saw something, forgot and shot as his. No games appear in dramas - it's a cheap genre. Historical movies are 2-3 times more costly. He listened to K-pop and that's why a Japanese band sings in "Sala samobójców" ("Suicide Room"). In 2009 ripped-off the idea of Facebook for the film, which was a novelty, he foresaw it, Nasza Klasa was en vogue back then.

19-20 years ago he took criticism personally, he had to learn not to.

Sometimes directors play with the audience and suddenly change the genre. He enjoys creating characters. He likes watching a person from top to toe, e.g. on a bus and analysing where they are from. "All people are actors, everyone enacts something." Wajda used to say casting is half a success. Next he analyses the character: what would happen if, e.g. he has 6 toes and no one knows. You must create the overt and the concealed. You can create more than 10 characters from 1 person. Casting: someone nice and smiley is evil to surprise the viewer. Mind who comes with who to have a good party. He's into contrast in characters. He likes kitsch as an artistic expression, like Andy Warhol's pop art. In "Miasto 44" ("Warsaw 44"), he decided to break the decorum every 10 minutes. 

He became a parent early, at 20, so had to turn adult too soon. He turned 40 last year, used to think 40 was old. Can't imagine himself at 70. 

Experienced actors help him at times. He admires Agata Kulesza, who he has worked with 4 times, on various roles. 

An ancient Greek actor asked one to watch and monitor - he became a didaskalos.  

He did philosophy at university for a year. He'd dream of shooting "Socrates" in ancient Greek. Now he's working in a foreign language on a science fiction movie where one element is changed: people can teleport themselves. The action takes place in a few countries. A family is on holidays in Italy but soon their son goes missing and there's some secret space no one wants to let them in. 

Leaving your comfort zone is important, especially travels. 

Photography - the cinematographers usually see through you. 

Be original, be yourself. 

His foundation helps homeless people get a pass for all of the Gdynia festival. 

Discipline is important: finish, not just start. Latin 'decidere' means 'cut off (all other stuff)'. "Done is better than perfect". That leads to a type of stutter all the time. 

Toronto festival is specific: no awards or jury but a few hundred movies. 

Polish people and foreigners perceive things differently. E.g. "Boże ciało" ("Corpus Christi") - many say it's about faith, someone else that about the corruption of the Church, in the East people found spirituality - Arab journalists, because about the need of the world with religion that's missing out there. In France, it was seen as reckoning with the Church. Europe deemed the Catholic Church political. Korea noticed that a country destroyed by WW2 was looking for values. "Sala samobójców. Hejter" ("The Hater") was No. 1 in South America where disinformation was rife but didn't make waves in the UK, while "Boże Ciało" ("Corpus Christi") was well-received. "Sala samobójców" ("Suicide Room") is popular in the US since Goths are still going strong over there. France and Italy are interested in WW2 so "Miasto 44" ("Warsaw 44") has been popular. Also China is into war, has the mentality of being at war. That way the film had millions of entries from Russia though it has never been released there. 

Mateusz Pacewicz, who wrote "Boże Ciało" ("Corpus Christi") tried an optimistic closing: they go and he pretends in a different parochy. But the director preferred to sell, not talk in the ending, he wanted a bomb to explode. "The protagonist is ashamed all the time" so he wanted a demon to come out of him. And a brutal correctional facility opening and ending = coda was used but the protagonist was first passive, next active. He sees that as "finished".

FELIX ET LE TRESOR DE MORGAA (FELIX AND THE TREASURE OF MORGAA)

Recommended. I was 15 minutes late but the tale has such distinct characters, of vivid personalities, which illustrate greed, craving for youth or fighting for peace with a domineering disregard for others in each case, it's fun and you just wish you could stay with them longer. Sadly, the story's complete. 

KINO W TRAMPKACH (CINEMA IN SNEAKERS)

LAST FILM SHOW

Recommended. A deeply moving Indian feature about the love of cinema. Predominantly. But also about a country where "there are 2 casts now: those who speak English and those who don't" and where everything is recycled to the tiniest bit. Bollywood hotshots appear only in the footage of what the boy watches but the little known actors are top-notch. You can't help but sympathise with the boy, his both parents, the cinema worker but also the boss. A deeply humane story. 

13. PRZEGLAD NOWEGO KINA FRANCUSKIEGO 

LES 2 ALFRED (FRENCH TECH)

Watchable. While you don't doubt for a minute it's a comedy, it's hardly funny. It's a sharp satire on modern devices and business jargon, as well as time-share or skill-swap jobs. I guess the reality is just too painful at times and the movie too realistic to be amusing.

哭悲 (THE SADNESS)

Recommended. Brand new solutions in the zombie genre - in fact, are they still zombies? They're infected but smart. No more mindless bloodthirsty monsters. That offers a number of shocks in the plot. And it makes sense medically. Which means it's frighteningly realistic. You feel grateful our pandemic has been just Covid. It contains subtle references to cult horror movies like "부산행" ("Train to Busan") or "The Shining" and clear ones to human behaviours during the recent Sars-Cov 2 pandemic, inadvertently also to the horrors of Ukrainian war - yes, the most cruel that comes to their minds. It's also realistic psychologically, especially the sexual harassment scene.

LIGHTYEAR

Watchable. Hyperspeed looks great only on the big screen, the robo-cat offers humour and some aces up the sleeve but the whole plot is quite standard space opera in an animated version. Robotic and navigation system gags are better than the elderly lady on parole ones. Some characters are obligatorily non-white and non-straight. The science fiction part is certainly more engaging than the social one. Yet there's nothing truly new in the story, in the visuals or in the Atmos quality sound. Too little attention is given to the main time-passing issue and too much to silly bumping in cones adventures. Trivialised. There's a funny short mid- and post-credit and 1 image at the very end, after Pixar switches off the light.