Movie reviews

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.