QT8: THE FIRST EIGHT

Recommended. The documentary about Quentin Tarantino really drives home what it's like to work with him. It's filled with accolades from his staff but showing how many actors he has befriended over years and who thrive under his exuberance. The same cast, producer - infamous Weinstein about whose crimes Tarantino knew - and even props, e.g. Red Apple cigarettes invented for "Pulp Fiction" reappear in "Kill Bill" and "The Hateful Eight". You learn how many scenes are nicked from classics and that his style hails from blaxploitation: crime movies with strong black characters which he watched in childhood. He relies on make-up and fake blood disliking CGIs. Most of all, it's about a movie buff who has succeeded.

THE FLYING SAILOR

Watchable. This Oscar-nominated short film varies animation styles in a simple tale of a man who drowns and ends up breathing like a fish on the ocean bottom. It's ugly, lacks any sophistication in the form or substance and apart from flashbacks of his life story it tells nothing.

Seen online, cinematic reception might differ.

THE WOMAN KING

Recommended. Beautiful - both the story, the view on Africa, and visually: African soil, wildlife - shot mostly in South Africa, but also clothes and ornaments. Sounds of battles surround you. Hero Fiennes Tiffin makes a cameo as a slaver. Top-notch performances all around. A fictitious story placed in 1823 Dahomey but consulted with a Fongbe language expert and a historian. It could have happened. Strictly following, even if at times altering, historical events, it gives the illusion. In fact Ghezo strongly opposed British efforts to abolish slavery, not the other way round. The customs and traditions are ingrained in actual ones but made up. The fabrics used for clothing look modern, very African, beautiful but, again, different than in historical records. A little bit of the movie was shot in Ghana, also some of the clothes have Ghanaian patterns due to the costume designer being Ghanaian. Penned by Dana Stevens, it showcases Africa with its history. There've been empires greater than the Kingdom of Dahomey. I'm looking forward to more of African history in cinema.  

DE BESTE VERJAARDAG OOIT (BEST BIRTHDAY EVER)

Watchable. The animation tells of a family of bunnies who look and act much like humans with the only difference they have a penchant for carrots. In the Polish dubbing the boy's voice is a bit annoying, sounds disgruntled, not very cute. Polish songs ruin the rest. But the film has educational values: teaches how to treat a dog or how to use binoculars. The animation is sufficient to tell this warm, eventful, even if unhasty tale but nothing delights you visually - the animals are not cute and the surroundings look quite average. 

TENETA

Watchable. Barely a documentary, more of a reportage on how the Lemkin Institute gathers testimonies of genocide survivors. It highlights the purposefulness of Orcs' actions. Other than hat, you don't learn anything new.

POKOLENIE IKEA (THE IKEA GENERATION)

Recommended. Dedicated to late David J. Prescott - a Polish comic book and short story author who felt more Irish than Polish, with Polish evergreen singer Majka Jeżowska acting an episode. Director/producer Dawid Gral took care to provide wonderfully surrounding sound which puts you right inside the cafes, restaurants, clubs. Michalina Olszańska is superb as Olga. The movie is a bit disturbing but accurate depiction of modern professionals in their 30s and younger where sex dominates private life yet from time to time something deeper than physicality emerges. The movie is professionally produced in terms of sound and visuals and engaging as you follow a serial playboy in his conquests. His legal career also shines plenty of light on the financial exploitation of clients and the easiness of lawyers' work. It's a generation of easy-com-easy-go.

VLASTNICI (OWNERS)

Watchable. This budget Czech tragicomedy is a dissection of common property management. Each character is distinct, the problems life-like so it's hard to laugh. The ending is tongue-in-cheek and quite open. Early end credits show each person or couple in their place. Then it's truly over.

WYSNIONA HISTORIA KINA NA PODLASIU (DREAMLIKE HISTORY OF CINEMA IN PODLASIE) 

The exhibition which has was held by Kinoteka in Warsaw was available to all cinema ticket holders at no extra charge till 16th March. The photographs and the stories below them (the QR codes next to the Polish descriptions directed you to the English version) told about surprising links of Podlasie (a region in eastern Poland) to Hollywood. The exhibition also bridged pre-war and contemporary cinema since the stills, however aged they looked, showed modern-era Polish actors, all with Podlasie roots, impersonating the ones whose stories you read. That was partly because of the scarcity of pre-war pictures, partly to demonstrate the continuum of Podlasie cinema.

The exhibition accompanied an album with the same stills and stories in print form. Sadly, while elderly people would have been most interested, the small print with a hard to read serif font, even in the original Polish version, rendered the descriptions hard to get through and the English ones, in pale grey, barely legible at all. Big blank spaces on the text pages meant poor space organization. Though, I have to admit, my mum, who uses a magnifying glass, loved the album.

LES AMANDIERS (FOREVER YOUNG)

Watchable. Directed by actress Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, it tells a story of young students of acting in which it resembles "Fame" but Frenchified, with emphasis on drugs and homosexuality while AIDS is straight people's problem. The title refers to the acting profession meaning to immortilise them. Beautiful and talented Nadia Tereszkiewicz appears as Stella but there are top performances all around. The time of the events is revealed only towards the end. Fine but derivative and with no clear point.  

Reviewed from the distributor's screener, cinematic reception might differ.

TAR 

Walked out. 6 Oscar nominations?! OK, Cate Blanchett had to master all those nearly monologues but the film is a series of overly lofty, intellectual conversations about music and composers. However much I love classical music, I couldn't stand the blabber and the first 45 minutes had very little music and whatever there was, was unremarkable. The two women in the car scene must allude to "Drive My Car", though the scene in this picture is quite void. The whole thing deals with issues too abstract to give a damn. It basically consists of Tár's conversations with different people which sound like the conductor's monologue carried over from one listener to the next. The theatricality of some scenes and performances is a poor imitation of "Drive My Car". It's all unbearably wooden and bombastic.

СВОБОДА У ВОГНІ: БОРОТЬБА УКРАЇНИ ЗА СВОБОДУ (FREEDOM ON FIRE: UKRAINE'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM)

It's the new documentary by Oscar-nominated director of "Зима у вогні: Боротьба України за свободу" ("Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom") Євген Афінеєвський (Evgeny Afineevsky).

Watchable. The 1 hour 56 minute long documentary charts the history of the country since the 9th century and of recent developments since the Maidan as well as the most famous incidents of the current war. I've seen some of the footage before. The film just collects it and puts in order to explain what and why. The invaders are abysmal. The documentary really nails the subject of disinformation on Russian state TV. While the film is hard-hitting at times, e.g. when a sudden blast takes place as they're filming or when you hear of scorched bodies and the guy casually mentions: "There's a hand? Do you want to see?" and the camera shows it, but it's often overtalked. Particularly annoying is obsessive and excessive talking about babies and children as if they mattered more than fully-abled adults that struggle through or aren't there any more. Everything is lucidly explained but the child level is too much of a bias. 

EMPIRE OF LIGHT

Recommended. A quiet English town on the South coast, 1980/81 - punks, skinheads, still little traffic. It's mostly wonderfully British: chips, music, accents and the quaint feel of the seaside town. Underneath the turmoils of the country and of two individuals who got a raw deal in their lives form the plot. But all this is quiet, evocatively shot and the performances subtle. In spite of the story, it's soothing. The cinematography was deservedly nominated for an Oscar.

EVA & ADAM

Recommended. The Swedish film for tweens radiates warmth, gentle wit, is realistic in how siblings tease each other, highlights the issues of animal protection and how to do it wisely as well as the hardships of becoming a vegetarian in your early years. It all shows correct patterns of behaviour as a child and as an adult taking care of or working with kids. Heart-warming and touching at times.

NOWICJUSZ (THE NOVICE)

Recommended. The film made by a handful of people for 5 years is top-notch professional. Much like "Głos" ("The Voice") but with greater attention put to camerawork: both in shots resulting in situational humour and in atmospheric ones, and to the sound: speech is perfectly clear and music spatial. The storyline based round finding your vocation works wonderfully in the context, just like it did in "Głos" ("The Voice") - again a documentary showing cenobites are real people, multidimensional, not only spiritual but with interest e.g. in jazz or football. The director is a Dominican himself. The humorous bit on Dominican fashion is wonderful too.

Director Michał Woś is already beginning work on his second documentary. This one is to consist of black and white tapes shot by Dominicans in 1937-38 and to express the love of cinema. Meanwhile Maciej Cuske, his acquaintance, is working on a new film in Cuba. 

KNOCK AT THE CABIN

Recommended. The grasshoppers indicate it's humans that'll be closely looked at - "I'm not going to hurt you." Typical of M. Night Shyamalan's great works, it's enigmatic, gripping, as you never know how it'll develop. Thought-provoking in many aspects. It plays with some American notions, religious and liberal, with numerous twists and turns, keeps on diverting your understanding of the situation. The director makes a cameo as a TV presenter. Sound is at times surrounding. Evocative end credits complete the picture.  

HEAVEN IN HELL

Watchable. Polish woman + Italian man couples seem to rule Polish cinemas. The story's gripping, with some nudity, it's fun. It's all plausible. But my personal favourite is Janusz Chabior as Ivo. His non-Polish name makes no sense but the protagonist in his superb comical performance is a delight, a perfect supporting role to the female lead. The plot's saucy but well justified, including the intrigues. Tomasz Mandes is the director, one of the script writers and producers and appears in the movie as Piotr. The movie boasts surround sound in an Atmos screen. Laser projector? The cinematography isn't worth it. The ending disappoints and the final song in Polish further mars the movie. 

VAATHI

Watchable. Kollywood this time but very Bollywood-style in the social justice topic and also with lots of songs. The music's fine yet forgettable. Chaotic and fast cut in the opening sequences confuses the viewer, especially one having to read fast long white subtitles on light backgrounds. The teacher fighting like a pro is over-the-top. The subject matter is a searing look at private education being a money-making scheme. But the intrigues make the movie engaging. I also adored the prep talk on the benefits of education - the doubts the uneducated folks have are the same as in Europe so it's quite relevant. I also enjoyed the women empowerment notion it brought about. However the humiliation the teacher is subjected to is exaggerated again. The whole thing gets considerably better after the interval. The second half strikes comedy tones. It also offers a handful of twists of action, including the absolutely brilliant final one. I just loved it. One smart movie on the whole

An excessively loud screening may make sense with a loud Indian audience, shouting freely during movies, but it hurt my European ears, I had to cover them every few minutes. There's a thin line between good audibility and noise.

SUNDOWN

Recommended. Shot and set in Acapulco and Mexico City, Michel Franco's latest movie poses more questions than it answers. Tim Roth is ambiguous as Neill. The director purposefully leaves the whole situation to your own interpretation, subtly twisting the action from time to time with a new piece of information thrown in as if casually. It struck me the slaughtered pig in one scene looked visibly fake - a clear sign no animal harm was intended in the movie production. The swines Neill sees not only make you wonder which are real but why pigs and why in such places - taken the family business isn't pork. No doubt the writer/director demonstrates people kill for money - where you come from determines what or who you breed and slaughter. 

FILIP

Recommended. The movie highlights a rarely mentioned Nazi policy of punishing inter-racial sex, where German women would have their heads shaved and foreign men would be executed. In the midst of the Second World War a story of a handsome Jewish seducer is set. It's engaging, keeps you in suspense but, while it could be viewed as a war thriller, the tale, based on Filip's friend's autobiography, is joyful, saucy, full of life. The protagonist is smart, deceitful, bold, a bad boy but one you root for knowing his logic. Eryk Kulm Jr. is superb and alluring, with his smooth appearance and athletic, muscled body, as Filip. He's partnered with a wonderful cast of international actors speaking Polish, German, Yiddish, French. The story's surprisingly light, in spite of a heavy topic. Michał Kwieciński directed it superbly. Exquisite, sometimes surrounding, sound and modern rhythms emphasize the extraordinary action. Skillful cinematography makes this horrible time pleasing to the eye. The serious tones of one's identity, purpose in life, longings, fate are astonishingly attractive in this unpredictable film full of twists so natural they're hardly noticeable even though they glue you to the screen.

SYK PIKE (SICK OF MYSELF)

Watchable. You know from the beginning it's going to deal with the issues of: to what extremes people go for public acclaim, professional rivalry in a couple and whether narcissism is the way to fame. In 1998 Lars von Trier created "Idioten" ("The Idiots") - a movie in which people pretended in order to provoke. Nowadays the society is more inclusive and tolerant so pretending rises from a desire of popularity. The movie's a bit overtalked and, at the later stage, the mask looks fake, but it is engaging and how the girl's dreams clash with reality is wonderfully demonstrated.

M3GAN

Recommended. James Wan's latest work, as usual, is an intelligent horror. While it harks back to "Frankenstein", its more obvious influence is "Terminator". While here it's just one android fighting only some people, it's clearly updated - she used an autonomous car to be back. It also follows in the footsteps of "De uskyldige" ("The Innocents"). It grows scary, especially because it feels so realistic nowadays, when the Internet of things is becoming our reality.

TILL

Recommended. It fascinates how blacks take pride in their appearance, their beautiful clothes as well as grooming feature prominently. The rest is just pride. The fatal domino is set off by a trivial reason, first it's astonishing how the compliment was taken. The movie has slow passages but the injustice is hard-hitting nevertheless. White instigator and perpetrator's impunity is appalling. Top performances all around including Jalyn Hall as Emmett Till, but also Whoopi Goldberg in a dramatic role as granma Alma Carthan.

WIAROLOM (FAITHBREAKER)

Walked out. I could't make out what it was supposed to be about. The pictures were dark and the music bland. 

L'IMMENSITA

Watchable. A family, loving and toxic interchangeably. Boring all the time. I stayed till the end hoping for some dramatic turn. It doesn't come. Both protagonists: Adri and the mother lose. On the other hand, the movie, through these two characters, explicitly shows that sacrificing yourself for the family you lose yourself and gain nothing.

MINUTA CISZY (A MINUTE OF SILENCE) EP. 3

Recommended. A hard-hitting happening mid-way through the episode, new shocking twists and turns as the contemporary situation develops and as Zasada's past is revealed. A masterful script.

Seen courtesy of Canal +.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA  AT IMAX 3D

Watchable. This instalment offers lots of low-brow humour, with Bill Murray whose Lord Krylar is still tolerable in comparison to other characters. Visually it's awful: retro people and organisms, like Lynch's "Dune" of 1984. The fractals are so-so. A small screen will be enough. The 3D has some depth at times. Atmos provides clear sound but only the end credits music is actually good. Also only the real world opening and ending are any fun. The rest is ballistic and neverending. Mid- and post-credit are another sepia-toned retro.

ORLY FESTIVAL 2023 - POLISH FILM AWARDS CANDIDATES

ZASADA

Watchable. The documentary released on the driver's 93th birthday (Sobiesław Zasada was born on 27 Jan. 1930), doesn't tell you much about him. Or at least not from the start. First he's massaged and undergoes a series of medical tests in which he wants the perfect outcome. Then he tries on the obligatory uniform and the new car. In a brief cafe scene with his wife she says she couldn't get out of the car and fell out, to which he jokes she was carried out. He remembers a 1997 race when she would repeat: ":Wytrzymaj, kochanie" ("Bear it, darling"), when he thought she was talking to him but she was talking to the car. Still, mostly he's sitting in the car and commenting on the discomfort of the uniform. Only half an hour in does the action move to Kenya. Cheering local spectators, a paper article on the world's oldest - to be in the Guinness book of records - driver to race, at 91. He's disappointed the offroad Africa is gone, the highway looks modern. At the end you learn 2021 was when his ill wife, his partner for 75 years and his spotter in the past, fell ill and passed away. At least he appears to be in perfect health - physical and mental. And that's all there is in the movie. 

PATHAAN 

Recommended. Released at the time when the Indian government is stepping up interreligious tension inside the country and while Kashmir continues to be a disputed territory, this blockbuster envisages developments when Article 370 of the Indian Constitution is abrogated and employs two famously Muslim actors and a Hindu actress in the roles which make them fight each other or co-operate against a true common enemy. The producers clearly splashed out. Shot with megastars like Shah Rukh Khan, stunning beauty Deepika Padukone - who fights too, Salman Khan who makes a cameo in his much-loved role of Tiger - after the interval and in the mid-credit, in Delhi, Dubai, Spain, Italian Dolomites, Turkey, it's all packed with impressive stunts. Discomfortably to a Western, especially Polish viewer, part of the action takes place in Moscow - Russia's India's "crucial ally". The dialogue is smart, often humorous, with inside jokes, e.g. when Pathaan (embodied by arm-length-haired and astonishingly muscled Shah Rukh Khan) tells his life story of being an orphan abandoned by his parents in front of a cinema. Also the mid-credit conversation when two movie superstars discuss "stopping doing it" after 30 years refers directly to their special agent protagonists but indirectly to their own acting. Wonderful music and sound effects, recorded in Atmos, make impression even in an ordinary screening room. The movie's optimized for Imax so my only regret is that it's not shown in this format in Poland. But whatever the cinema screen size, it's spectacular. I was still replaying some scenes in my head the day after. Consummately crafted.

ORLY FESTIVAL 2023 - POLISH FILM AWARDS CANDIDATES

BOG I WOJOWNICY LUNAPARKOW AND Q&A WITH PRODUCER/PROTAGONIST AND SCRIPTWRITER/DIRECTOR

Recommended. A road documentary which is a microcosm of the split between religiousness and lack of thereof in Poland. One of the opening scenes sees the son praying to the heavenly father right after being rebuked for religiousness by his own. The father writes anti-Church books, the son wants to convert him. Often humorous, the dad is grumpy but witty, the son stubborn and sensitive, their difficult relationship also touches you at times. Still, for a vast part, it's a comedy. Just painfully honest at times. Wonderfully smartly edited.

The title part "Wojownicy Lunaparków" comes from the 1990s VHS tapes. The creators thought of titling it: "Ojciec, Syn, Duch Święty i kasety wideo" ("Father, Son, Holy Spirit and Videotapes") to refer it to Soderbergh's title. After the film, just before it premiered, the father suffered a stroke. Afterwards, however, both protagonists reflected on their relationship and it's better now. The son realizes it's God that converts, not people.

ASTERIX ET OBELIX, L'EMPIRE DU MILIEU (ASTERIX & OBELIX: THE MIDDLE KINGDOM)

Recommended. The 2 lead protagonists are cast differently than previously, Pierre Richard appears as Panoramix (Getafix), culinary expert Robert Makłowicz narrates the Polish version. 4 dogs are Idefix - in Polish and French (Dogmatix in English). The names are top-notch, e.g. Deng Tsin Qin, and are superbly translated into Polish by Bartek Fukiet. The movie's intercultural e.g. "The Time of My Life" is sung in Chinese or a character is 'The Man in a Bamboo Mask'. As usual, it's hilarious, e.g. when pidgeons buzz like phones or Caesar, drunk with rice wine, kisses a wrong person. Wonderful music illustrates the adventures. Further scenes fill half the end credits.

ORLY FESTIVAL 2023 - POLISH FILM AWARDS CANDIDATES

NEGATYW (THE NEGATIVE)

Watchable. Slow and reflective, each shot prolonged, but oneiric and enigmatic. Looks cheap but is technically correct, the sound by Michał Muzyka is finer than in many Polish productions. Only the 70s costumes raised my doubts, the clothes appear war years like rather. The plot's puzzling and I kept mulling it over in my head for a while. 

Ridiculous translation into English where the Present Perfect is used continuously instead of the Simple Past severely mars the international version.

SLUB DOSKONALY 

Watchable. Piotr Głowacki proves to be a brilliant comedian. Aleksandra Adamska (wonderful Patrycja Cichy 'Pati' from the Polish serial "Skazana") acts as the bride, Laura Breszka as the receptionist, director Nick Moran as a drag queen. The music choice, especially the classical bits, is truly sublime. You won't recognise it's based on a play ("The Perfect Wedding"). The movie's fun but not laugh out loud funny. I laughed twice, once at: "Ty jesteś zawsze taka dominująca, czy za to trzeba dopłacić?" ("You're always so domineering or do you pay extra for that?") There are a few very early mid-credits.

YUKU ET LA FLEUR DE L'HIMALAYA (YUKU AND THE FLOWER OF THE HIMALAYAS)

Watchable. Perfectly suitable for children from the age of 5. Visually, large swathes of pastel backgrounds dominate the screen. The Polish translation is wonderful, especially the rhymes, better than the English one. There are a few songs - in Polish unfortunately. The riddles the mouse needs to solve are difficult but child level at the same time. The riddle from the early end credits is solved in a post-credit.

Reviewed from the distributor's screener, cinematic reception might differ.

BABYLON

Recommended. The title's spot on. Crazy, wild entertainment transforms into cinema. It presents the blood, sweat and joy of the movie business. It's like "Cinema Paradiso" for adults. Entirely fictional characters and stories but utterly plausible. Tobey Maguire plays a surprisingly weird and disturbed character though with "Joker" references. Margot Robbie looks beautiful as ever, showing off her toned body and muscled thighs. Margot Robbie is phenomenal. The cinema scene where she watches the reaction of the audience is like in "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood". But mostly she manifests professionalism - as an actress and as her character: "Could you do the same task with less tears?" "OK. One tear or two?" What John Ford said to Steven Spielberg about the movie industry in "The Fabelmans" rings true also here. Iconic scenes from future movies reward the toil. This movie's born out of pure love of cinema. 

SILENT LOVE

Watchable. A lesbian, her underage brother and a butch form a happy family in a society emphasising the gender division at every step - literally, e.g. when children dance polonaise. It's life in Polish countryside society from the point of view of gay people. It also tells about the necessity to process mourning. Not all situations are quite clear to an outsider though. Guesswork is required. Doesn't stir many emotions in a straight viewer (or me at least) either.

LYLE, LYLE CROCODILE

Recommended. The croc is cute and tiny at first so a cinema screen is essential. He can actually sing - the songs are in the English original by Shawn Mendes. In Atmos, with visual effects created in Australia. It's an actors' film, the croc, especially his eyes and face express a lot. It's often touching, especially since it contains serious undertones of how pets are kids' best friends ad how adults treat animals. My eyes welled up a number of times. On the brighter side, the cat offers several hilarious bits, as does the grumpy neighbour insulting the judge. The end credits are surrounded by drawings retelling the story.