WATCH DOCS 2023

SZWEDY. INNEGO LOSU NIE MAMY (THE SWEDES. THE ONLY FATE WE HAVE) AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR ROBERT KOWALSKI

Watchable. Daily life of fighting soldiers: shaky camera and ground in battle, sleeping and eating in an abandoned house in a village in between. And they're highly motivated, feel responsible for the rest of the society. That's it. Skippable.

The director says their duty is to sleep and eat as much as they can just to be ready.

20 ДНІВ У МАРІУПОЛІ (20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL) AND Q&A WITH SOME OF PROTAGONISTS

By the time of the December 2023 screening 60% of Ukrainians lost a close one in the war, among Mariupolans most likely 100%. 90% buildings in Mariupol were destroyed, only some one-family houses were left. A bomb pit could be 7 meters deep, 70 meters wide. Somebody in a cellar of an 8-storey building was killed by a bomb which pierced it. 

Recommended. An unflinching look at and the truth about the first 20 days of constant bombings of Mariupol: killed babies, a saved newborn, bodies thrown into mass graves - at least 25 thousand killed. But also a dog trembling, terrified even when cuddled to his owner. Despair, fear, but also lack of information.

WATCH DOCS 2023 ONLINE

VERGISS MEYN NICHT (LONELY OAKS)

I only managed to see the first 25 minutes before midnight (the end of the festival online) but I doubted I would continue much longer. While the laudation when the film won the Green Dog Award said it was investigative journalism, all I saw was a presentation of how tree-dwelling activists spend their time. Boring. Other than the necessity to abseil, nothing I wouldn't have known already.

AKADEMIA PANA KLEKSA (KLEKS ACADEMY)

Walked out. It takes one trope from each: "The Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter", "Avatar" and turns into junk. The contrived plot, cinematography hazing backgrounds, theatrical acting style of Tomasz Kot, Piotr Fronczewski, Sebastian Stankiewicz and wooden by Antonina Litwiniuk as Ada Niezgódka, tacky costumes and decor are just pathetic. Repeating fecal jokes doesn't help. Ah, and it looks and sounds archaic. Plenty of outdated child songs from the 1984 original with only occasional modern techno bits render it not only old-fashioned but also quite odd. And why have they hired Sebastian Stankiewicz at all if the non-human shape of the bird is actually fine? And the girl supposedly brought up in New York City can't pronounce "Saturday" correctly. Probably the first movie I didn't stick out till the end even half-lying in a Dream screening room.

MAESTRO

Walked out. Leonard Bernstein had a perfect life. He was successful from the start, both professionally and with his crush. He continued being immensely popular and loved by his own wife and kids years later. What a bore! His troubled childhood doesn't ring true in the slightest.

ARGENTINA 1985

Recommended. A gripping courtroom drama with some funny situations - all based on facts. Also a chance to learn more about the 1976-1983 junta rule. Leaves you upbeat since it's a case which started sentencing over a thousand torturers.

IL COLIBRI (HUMMINGBIRD)

Switched off. Very ordinary people: a family and their friends. Nothing unusual.

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

AFRYKAMERA 2023

KADDU BEYKAT (LETTER FROM MY VILLAGE)

Walked out. A black and white 1975 etnographic documentary created when Africans discovered they could make movies too. The sort of films I watched in childhood when few people knew anything about Africa. Pointless nowadays. 

ANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPER

Watchable. Two worlds clash in this documentary where Malawi women try to persuade men to help with women's chores on the one hand and to persuade Americans to change their lifestyles because of the climate change already palpably hitting Africa. The realities of haves and have-nots are worlds apart and that's more striking. The economic gap is tear-jerking. A smart documentary. And depressing, though quite etnographic.

BLESSED BY SUNLIGHT

Watchable. This 14-minute story is just a pretext to show the problem of albino people whose bodies, believed to have magic properties, can be sold for up to $75 000 for the whole or individual body parts for less. Very simple moral preaching.

SINGELI MOVEMENT: GREED FOR SPEED

Watchable. The music sounds all the same, though surrounding at some point. The twerk danced to it is the main attraction. But bizarre visual and sound effects and peculiar editing - no story, an accidental arrangement of the material, no ending - ruin the documentary.

FERRARI 

Watchable. It's more like "Marriage Story" (reviewed here in the past) than "Le Mans'66". The racing and funding aspects are certainly more engaging than the protracted unfaithful husband story. I seriously considered walking out. The infidelity resulting in a son out of wedlock matters business-wise but the proportions of marital issues to car racing are just skewed. About half an hour towards the end comes one graphic sequence of a racing accident - shocking in such a bland movie. No adrenaline though.

전우치 (THE TAOIST WIZARD) (2009)

The movie's based on the exploits of a real wizard from the 조선 (Choson era). When he died, 3 days later his sister found the grave without the body, just the casket was left. 

Watchable. The magic and time travel disappoint with lame visual effects and a sketchy plot. The cultural differences of 500 years apart could have been put to a better use.

WATCH DOCS 2023

LIBERTATE (FREEDOM)

Watchable. This Romanian feature based on the facts of the 1989/90 Revolution when dictator Ceaușescu was overthrown depicts the mayhem.

YOU HAVE TO BE HERE TO BELIEVE

Watchable. Two joyful gay activists, together with other staff, persuade Hungarians to invalidate a ridiculous referendum. Successfully. Interesting how positive they remain facing a campaign of hatred. But the whole film is not particularly exciting to Poles who have recently invalidated another ludicrous referendum. The method was different though: we would refuse to take the ballot paper, Hungarians would X both 'yes' and 'no' at each question.

IT'S A WONDERFUL KNIFE

Watchable. A new festive slasher, this one for Christmas and both the original and the Polish title are puns with a cultural reference. The Polish translation of the movie by Anna Adamska is remarkably good as well, if you read subtitles. Clear division for goodies and baddies from the start facilitates understanding this modern version of the 1936 masterpiece "It's a Wonderful Life". It's a slasher so it lacks the sophistication of the original, it's just a new take on the slasher genre. The town and family changed under the greedy villain's rule resemble "Back to the Future II"'s changed Hill Valley. With a further original twist, mild violence as for the genre, it feels more like light Christmas fun. But it's good to watch the first half an hour carefully to enjoy the rest even more. And its Easter eggs. It's relatively simple and stereotypical but enjoyable.  

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

WATCH DOCS 2023

GRASSHOPPER REPUBLIC

Watchable. This documentary sees the whole process of grasshopper hunting: first free insects on the one hand - in close-ups, while people work hard setting up traps. Next lots of Uganda: other insects, birds, daily lives in the background: their business dealings, hopes to become millionaires, while treating eyesight-threatening damage to the pupils and skin from the lamps luring the insects - "I don't know a poor person who isn't strong."  Then the whole hunt - mesmerising as the green grasshoppers swarm against lit night sky. Finally wholesale and retail. Quite ordinary in a large part too. But mesmerising electronic music and beautifully shot all sorts of weather mean the film is atmospheric in spite of being slow. 

And outside the festival:

LES GARDIENNES DE LA PLANETE (WHALE NATION)

Recommended. Narrated by Jean Dujardin in the original and by singer Margaret in the Polish version, it's a nature documentary where a big cinema screen is a must. But it's not even the visuals and whale songs that matter, it's their history told from their perspective. Unique.

WATCH DOCS 2023

SUTNJA RAZUMA (SILENCE OF REASON) AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR

Watchable. Constant white noise makes it hard to focus on reading the court statements of the women who were abused by Serbian soldiers in rape camps. They're all the same: they were raped repeatedly according to age, starting from teenage girls, initially they'd be lied to they were being taken to safety.

90% of war rape survivors are stigmatised as if guilty of it, so patriarchal is the society. Testifying at the ICTY is complex, you have to prove you went through it, more than 30% of the women testified in order to change the fate of women. The first black female judge in history was judging the case. 

РАДЗІМА (MOTHERLAND) AND Q&A

Watchable. Protracted but at times clearly showing that hazing in the military leads to cruelty towards civilians in Belarus. A conscript's letters from the army are the core and often hit you harder than the news of the deadly injuries suffered by the ones who got killed during compulsory service. Daily life incidents are important too. The soldier's mates play a role as well. The mothers of the dead admirably sought justice but their mourning is overlong in this documentary. 

The army service in Belarus takes 1.5 years. Officer's insignia are acquired not in Belarus but in Russian military academies. 

WATCH DOCS 2023 ONLINE

SCONOSCIUTI PURI (PURE UNKNOWN)

Recommended. Her dogs are adorable, her work remarkable. Cristina Cattaneo is a forensic scientist striving to identify the bodies of illegal migrants sunk in the sea, victims of human trafficking and other difficult to solve cases spanning a few countries.

ANNA NO ZALKALNIEM (LITTLE ANNA) 

Recommended. The Latvian adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's famous book looks so Canadian you could be mistaken for the location. It's dubbed in Polish in this country so the language won't reveal it. Shot with numerous close-ups, with a perfectly selected cast, realistic yet alluring colours. 

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S

Watchable again. The film needs watching carefully, in my case that meant again. Also, it begins before the opening credits so you need to be on time. Still, it's fun. The Newton Brothers' music is great. I admired how Emma Tammi directed it, actor Josh Hutcherson is fabulous as the father. I also paid more attention to the career counsellor this time, knowing who he is.

WATCH DOCS 2023

HONG KONG MIXTAPE AND Q&A

Recommended. The documentary shows on the one hand the richness of artistic responses, whether tear gas flavour icecream or plentiful rebel gestures and slang, on the other hand how Hong Kong has fallen since many people have moved to Taiwan to be free again. It charts its history from the mass immigration at the time of the Cultural Revolution, through its rapid economic development, to the mass exodus now. The songs in English and Chinese show both the duality of the culture and the reaction to China imposing its regime

Explanations from the debate afterwards: The disappeared would often be washed out later. Archers were shot at. The "po po" T-shirts are Western Hong Kong police's.

THE DMITRIEV AFFAIR AND Q&A WITH DUTCH DIRECTOR JESSICA GORTER

Recommended. The protagonist tirelessly identifies victims of mass executions conducted under Stalin's regime. He says that "everyone needs to be buried", regardless of what they were in life, and that once buried the authorities will be unable to disprove their existence. The scale of arrests and killings convinced him: hundreds of thousands can't be guilty. Russian authorities immediately came up with the tall tale of Finnish concentration camps. 

The adoption agency asked him to document the girl's development for doctors. The accusation of him possessing pornographic images of her is a high profile case. There's a document stating he's not harming her. The brave judge was downgraded afterwards. The director has been shooting documentaries on Russia for 20 years. In her previous, "The Red Soul", Юрий (Yuri) was one of six protagonists. Юрий (Yuri) was an orphan, Наташа (Natasha) wasn't. Наташа (Natasha) went back to live with her grandmother, the one who had given her up for adoption. National TV Memorial blackens the history of Russia. That's why Memorial got branded "foreign agents" and the director found her colleague's name on the foreign agent list. That was her local cameraman - no one knows why him so it's an effective way to keep people in fear. In Russia, once accused, 0,01% are acquitted. Дмитриев (Dmitriev) loves getting letters from the outside world, most get to him. She was observed during this and her previous film. Until now there have been no convictions for the millions of people killed or put in camps. 

DREAM SCENARIO

Watchable. Ari Aster and Nicolas Cage are among the producers. As for the plot, average people make for average movies, even if that average protagonist is an immensely popular person and the story's weird. The end credits song is "City of Dreams" by Talking Heads, a song recounting the history of the US, claiming it's past inhabitants' and conquerors' dreams that have created the present country, which gets you thinking both of dreams turning into nightmares and of modern dreams of being popular.

JEDNA DUSZA (ONE SOUL)

Watchable. Much more dynamic than your average Polish drama, with fine performances all around and my favourite Silesian dialect. The "Sexy bomba" disco polo song is great but features twice only briefly. The problem with this drama is that one family illustrates a range of social issues: alcoholism, marital rape, abortion, bringing up sons, attitude to the disabled, sexism. Overdone.

WATCH DOCS 2023

東京自転車節 (TOKYO UBER BLUES) & DISCUSSION

Watchable. The population of Tokyo is like of all of Poland and pandemic lockdowns were imposed at 100 infections. The documentary sees a rat munching on fast food scattered in the street, the rest of the city is truly spanking clean. The protagonist has a large student loan to pay off. He learns how to manage his money, the hard say. No work. Or extremely long hours of work. The rider's bonus is awarded for an excessive, record number of deliveries, it's a game rivalry way of setting bonuses. Incredible how customer-oriented he stays. He often ends up homeless for the night, never knows how much he'll earn and how long it'll take. Uber doesn't provide tools for work, like tyres for a bike courier. Instead he's extra tired himself. One drink is often carried from one district to another. Uber offers better pay rates in rain. He can't survive on his wages anyway, he needs to rely on friends and strangers for food and accommodation. A mediocre film but gives you an idea of what this job is like. Good F4 Frame provided a very poor translation of the Japanese film via English.

The more couriers in an area the lower the pay rate. Macron is close to Uber lobbyists. Uber Easts left Italy which meant cutting just 40 full-time jobs. They have no health insurance. They only need a document they haven't had convictions in Poland. They came on student visas. 

There's draft of a EU directive that a platform employee should know how the algorithm works. 1.5-2%, i.e. 200 000-300 000 people in Poland perform platform work. But also white collar jobs are growingly platformised or run by algorithms. Initially they feel they are entrepreneurs.

HOW TO PLEASE

Recommended. Wed Al-Asadi makes for a perfect actor in this short Finnish documentary about himself, where he tells the story of his asylum and immigration attempts in Finland. Astonishing how red tape prevents willing people from work or studies and arbitrarily defines when which country is safe to live. An eye-opener. Even in its simple form. 

JULEMANDENS DATTER 3: DER MAGISKE TIDSMASKINE (ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS: THE MAGIC TIME MACHINE)

Watchable. This Christmas tale takes you back in time. Not only is there a trip to sepia-toned 1897, even the main plot features a circus and, while it's just clowns, dogs jumping over obstacles and a time machine trick, it's an outdated concept peddled to children for no reason. Poo and piss gags don't amuse anyone, even the child audience. But the adventure plot is clear and sufficiently complex at the same time. Less magic, just an old-fashioned time machine, but still entertaining enough. The story ends along the end credits. 

UNE ANNEE DIFFICILE (A DIFFICULT YEAR)

Watchable. This tragicomedy reduced me to tears. Precariat, global warming, spirals of debts, huge social inequalities are the main topics. The true finale plays out in the scenes right on the end credits. 

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S

Watchable. Tacky beginning (before the opening credits). The lead actor Josh Hutscherson (Mike) is superb. The film is original and enigmatic so the run-of-the-mill showdown is a letdown. There's an early mid-credit and one line is heard at the very end.

OSCARS 2025

It feels like a historic moment in Poland: Canal +, which used to stream Oscars yearly with a Polish voiceover, which not only muffled the original but also constituted an appallingly incompetent translation, this year is offering the option of switching the interpreters off. I'm going to watch it live, in the original, without the disruptions I experienced in some knock-off ABC streaming last year. Canal + is still an Oscar monopolist on the Polish market but they have listened to the viewers in spite of being in the position not to.

WATCH DOCS 2023

A JESLI JUTRO WOJNA SIE SKONCZY (WHAT IF THE WAR ENDS TOMORROW) AND Q&A

Watchable. Chaotic. What isn't in this film? From humiliations, e.g. being made run around the house naked, through stories of who was how successful before the war, to organizations. Additionally, the women's stories are all mixed, as if in accidental editing. Powerful stories of rapes, humiliations, disinformation, but also abducted daughters, nearly disappear in the junk. It jumps from one Ukrainian location to another and none is named.

The women wanted to show their faces. There was no translation during shooting the interviews. Yuliia is from around Donetsk. Russian occupiers took the boys to Moscow. Those authorities are the ones who took her parental rights away. Rapes are effected as soon as children enter orphanages and indoctrination that Russians are the saviours follows. A rape is the cheapest and the most long-term weapon. Perpetrators often say they did what others did. Group, no individual responsibility felt. In Rwanda there were special HIV-infected rapist troops. The same with the attackers of the woman tied to a post: they felt impunity. Someone did it first and then it just went on. Legally a war rape is a crime against humanity, they are tried for it. Some war criminals hide for 20-30 years in a country which hasn't signed the Rome Convention. Polish prosecution collects data on the war crimes for the International Criminal Court. At the end of 2023 Polish judges and prosecutors were training how to collect such statements.

DANGER ZONE AND Q&A WITH POLISH DIRECTOR KAMIL NIEWINSKI

Watchable. Adrenaline, feeling special, playing tough. Rich people pay $12 000 per tour because they want to get out of their golden cages and "superficiality". Locals are watched like in a zoo, children given toys or banknotes. Somalia: the sun, a blue ocean and guns. The tour organizer winds up the clients: "he's got a gun, he may shoot you". Posing for a photo at an execution site, the place which a tourist describes as "poignant". All this resembles "Framing the Other" - another Watch Docs offering from years ago.

In 2012 tourists went to the Golan heights in Israel to watch the shelling of Syria. The director wanted to create an impression we're on a tour. The female director couldn't go to Somalia because the country had constitutionally introduced sharia law so she wouldn't have been able to direct Somali men. 

ALL FUN & GAMES

Walked out. Derivative and moronic. Asa Butterfield is fine enough as a good-natured elder brother but doesn't transform into a bloodthirsty maniac convincingly. Natalia Dyer has a very ugly haircut. Her sister or friend is lesbian for no specific plot reason. Stereotypical characters, props and set-up for a supernatural slasher. Rapid flashes of the past with theatrically looking and acting killers. Annoying. No fun.

PARIS HAS FALLEN SEASON 1 EP. 1

Watchable. Gerard Butler is one of the producers of the series. The initial attack on the British embassy is tedious, with some excessive brutality, but run-of-the-mill on the whole. When you hear an ex Taliban prisoner is waging a private vendetta, it's still standard. But when he coerces the Defense Minister into a suicide threatening to shoot his daughter instead, you become intrigued.

Seen courtesy of Canal +.

노량: 죽음의 바다 (NORYANG: DEADLY SEA)

Switched off. Sadly all the lavish historical costumes and ships and edifices were wasted on me. With no background knowledge of the history of Japan, Korea, their armaments, historical figures, customs I couldn't work out who was who and who fought for what hence I couldn't grasp the scheme.

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

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM

Walked out. Ballistic animation set in realities of the Middle Ages. Wooden lines and stereotypical characters. Fantastical creatures are used in battles and heartbreakingly slaughtered by enemies. No magic.

DIAMANT BRUT

Watchable. Malou Khebizi as Liane is beautiful, sensual, not too smart, immature, callow. She treats her body as gods.

ANORA

Recommended. An original story of a stripper. A beautiful, smart go-go dancer becomes Russian billionaire's son's girlfriend. The first half of the movie is her fairy tale affair, it is and it feels like a constant party, with surrounding music and feeling of frivolousness. The second part dismantles the dream. Perfectly acted, especially by as Ani and   as Ivan, it's all plausible. A romantic tale turns into a crime comedy, finally drama where the rich always get their way.

PARIS HAS FALLEN SEASON 1 EP. 2

Watchable. Lots of chases you don't care about, special agents' private relationships which don't bring anything to the action either, but Pearce's back story is getting stronger and the only thing that keeps you watching is another cliff hanger after he mercilessly and cruelly kills another man, in shocking circumstances again.

EP. 3

Recommended. The plot finally makes full sense and the suspense keeps growing. A true espionage thriller.

EP. 4

Recommended. The action diverts a bit from the previous route, setting ground for the next murderous plan. The two agents' relationship stories become more sensible too. And they eventually meet Pearce face to face. It's impossible not to binge the serial now.

EP. 5

Recommended. New characters, connected to Pearce, are introduced. We know who the rat in intelligence is, the agents don't know it yet. The ending leaves you with the question of whether the bomb is going to go off or not. The whole episode makes you poinder whether it is possible to switch off planes transporders remotely in a hackers' attack. 

EP. 6

Recommended. A few twists of action, a new character in action and one more mention Just for the agent duo - love them. ned by Pearce. The finale leaves the president with an impossible choice. 

EP. 7

Recommended. The clock is ticking as the bomb is going to explode. The finale offers a solution. A subversive one.

EP. 8

Recommended. Pearce is over, others make it alive. One of the agents is quitting but... "bakers die of boredom and obesity". I'll be looking forward to season 2.

Big Polish subtitles in all episodes facilitate watching. 

Seen courtesy of Canal +.