O, SWIECENIE! (O SHINETH) AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR

Watchable. A short religious animation where the dynamic painted sequences, on white background, look sketchy and basic. So is the didactic message.

The director created the film for his daughter when he was working away from home. It took 10 years to make.

DUCHY (GHOSTS) AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR

Watchable. This short drama is misleading at first since the train sequences are black and white and the childhood ones colourful. In most films the present is in colour and black and white sequences are the past. Here it's not time-related as I found out from the Q&A later. The girl's story gets cut-off, looks like the character was used only to be an interlocutor. As common in Polish productions, the dark sequences are nearly pitch-black so you really have to strain your eyes to see what's going on. And, what's worse, you need the director's verbal explanation to understand the film. The final scene is on the creepy side yet thought-provoking.

The director doesn't like to be scared so he's no fan of horrors. "The Lighthouse" or early Ari Aster are ones he accepts - "nothing jumps at me", "just stares, nothing frightens me more than someone walking slowly towards me." - he hasn't seen "It follows". He wanted to capture how ghosts see us, the spirits' perspective.

PIESN O NOCY (SONG OF THE NIGHT) AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR

Watchable. This short drama is fascinating, though theatrical. When the young man, with a sculpted body, undresses, it becomes intriguing. First I thought the visitor might be the couple's son so I was seriously wrong. The astonishing erotic sequence is a huge twist in the plot as I perceived it first. The film deals with the ravages of a suppressed passion, Both the visitor and the old man are shot statuesquely. Monumental Bach music is a perfect match. As common in Polish productions, the dark sequences are nearly pitch-black so you really have to strain your eyes to see, especially the place. And, what's worse, you need the director's verbal explanation to understand the film.

Asked about the monumentalism of the film, the director explained the couple are people who made money in the 1990s and have an Italian dream but the rope is there too. The house is dark, with no life symbolically, because the house is already after the protagonist's death. The story has happened to him. In the director's view people are afraid of being themselves and only at their deathbed do they come out. His own coming out was when he was 5 so he's got no problem with it. The woman kicks the visitor out of the house because what she saw in him  was the death that came to the house. Afterwards she returns to the house after death - the statues, the decor are gone, her husband appears in an afterglow - he's gone too.

SPIRITUS SANCTUS (SPIRITUS SANCTUS) AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR

Watchable. This short comedy is set in the early 1990s - I laughed out loud when the hapless man rode his motorbike to the shop - the smalltown reality of the period is comical. Polish religiousness is treated with a note of levity since you follow the protagonist's travails as he attempts to purchase alcohol on the only day its sale is banned.

The director leaves the ambiguity whether it's the wind or God that manipulates the TV aerial. The story's told with pictures and is meant to be dual: the daily life one and the religious revelation one.

AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM

Watchable. It opens with Warner's logo submerged in an ocean with colourful fishes. The baby is revolting. Amber Heard looks like a milk cow and acts like one. Visually the movie derives from many sci-fi, fantasy, horror (directed and co-written by James Wan) flicks and adventure productions so lamely it's a mockery. There's a mid-credit, no post-credit.

WONKA

Watchable.I don't like musicals or dark fairy tales but this one is acted superbly, shot in the UK, it has a bit of British humour and is certainly better than that idiocy with Johnny Depp from years ago. Still, I found it quite distressing because it's so life-like and depressive. On the plus side, I loved the giraffe and "A Roald Dahl story" appears on a chocolate wrapper. The Polish language version has better songs. The story's concluded during the end credits.

MARYJA. MATKA PAPIEZA

Watchable. The Saint Mary cult, Fatima's last revelation, eschatology, but most of all Karol Wojtyła's family story and his formative years are the subject of this documentary. Lots of period photographs and news recordings prove the film is well documented. But archive footage is presented in a square with kind of an echo of the picture in red - as if the middle square wasn't grainy enough. Luckily it's compensated by modern shots of the places discussed and of experts. As usual in religious documentaries the commentary is rich in detail boring to outsiders. 

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

POSLANI

Watchable. While Michał or Daniel's revelation and Daniel's nightmare slumbers could be dismissed as a deeply religious person's hallucination, other signs they experience are harder to ignore. Aneta's story is different. The woman chose her path consciously. As the stories intertwined, my rescue dog suddenly started to listen attentively: "why does God subject us to suffering? "we have free will". That got me thinking - about dogs and about humans. Then I was deeply moved when the elderly pilgrim was telling how he had knelt down in front of the man who had been insulting him and the insulting man had knelt back. The film is also a chance to learn who the legendary priest Popiełuszko was. Social phenomena like men praying in public in the street and how the men's rosary spread to the rest of the world are explained. Unfortunately it's filled with not-always-interesting details - my guess is a better cut would improve this otherwise inspiring documentary about how unusual approaches to faith become the norm, about how to deal with secular criticism and how to live your own life - the way God wants you to.

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

KOS (SCARBORN)

Recommended. Structured like "Django Unchained", it tells about the commonality of fate of American slaves and Polish serfs - one actor, Jason Mitchell, is actually a black American and in this Polish movie he's as excellent as all the Polish cast. I'm not listing the numerous names, the performances are all superb. Top-notch cinematography, editing and virtually everything are world-class. The best, however, is the script: with smart dialogue, lots of humour, it's a game between Polish nobility, peasants and Russian occupiers. It's intense, with just perfect lines. It's an intelligent remake of history, with levity, with a large dose of wit and smart adjustment to the Polish reality. There's one famous line from the current war in Ukraine as well.The dialogues, with lots of quips, are a work of genius. The movie's absolutely spotless.

ROBOT DREAMS

Recommended again. I spotted the mugshot with name Dog Varon - like the surname of the original comic book author. The song is 1978 "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire. This time round I didn't perceive the movie as as sorrowful as before. It's still for adults rather than for kids - those would get bored and impatient, even though the story's rich in little events. This time I saw it as a tale about in how many ways we're useful to others, about how we cherish our relationships and how everyone needs someone. It's very life-like, including some malicious people, but told with love. Animation-wise, Dog's tail speaks volumes at times. 

ORLY FESTIVAL 2024 - POLISH FILM AWARDS CANDIDATES

МИ НЕ ЗГАСНЕМО (WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY)

Walked out. Ukrainian-controlled part of Donbass, 2019. Daily life, smalltown youth's longings, soldiers passing them by in the street, distant sounds of artillery. Nothing you wouldn't expect. Nothing to make a film about. 

HER DOCS FORUM

ЩОРАЗУ ЗАТИНАЮСЯ ВІД ЗВІСТКИ З КИЄВА (I STUMBLE EVERY TIME I HEAR FROM KYIV)

Switched off. A short documentary in which a refugee talks to people in Kyiv and parallelly undergoes a trauma therapy. Incomprehensible in details, in disarray.  

Reviewed from the organizers' screener, cinematic reception might differ.

THE BEEKEEPER AT IMAX

Recommended. Jason Statham is one of the producers in the actioner with conscience he stars in. While it starts with con artists hacking into elderly people's bank accounts, the plot takes you higher up the social circles. Expertly crafted action sequences, gripping, perfectly designed, shot in London, UK and Boston, Ma. Josh Hutcherson is a wonderful hipster villain as Derek Danford.