Poland’s Oscar committee has selected The Peasants, a sumptuous animated literary adaptation from Loving Vincent directors Dk and Hugh Welchman, as the country’s submission for the best international feature category at the 2024 Oscars, over The Green Border, a critically-acclaimed film from two-time Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa, In Darkness).
The decision, announced by the committee in Warsaw Monday afternoon, comes after a concerted attack on The Green Border by Poland’s far-right government, with the justice minister and the country’s president condemning the film and comparing it to “Nazi propaganda” for its depiction of the refugee crisis on Poland’s border with Belarus.
The head of Poland’s Oscar committee, producer Ewa Puszczyńska, whose credits include the Oscar-winner Ida, the Oscar-nominated Quo vadis, Aida? and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, the U.K. entry for the 2024 best international feature race, said deliberations were “tough...
The decision, announced by the committee in Warsaw Monday afternoon, comes after a concerted attack on The Green Border by Poland’s far-right government, with the justice minister and the country’s president condemning the film and comparing it to “Nazi propaganda” for its depiction of the refugee crisis on Poland’s border with Belarus.
The head of Poland’s Oscar committee, producer Ewa Puszczyńska, whose credits include the Oscar-winner Ida, the Oscar-nominated Quo vadis, Aida? and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, the U.K. entry for the 2024 best international feature race, said deliberations were “tough...
- 9/25/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Poland will submit animated feature drama The Peasants for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
The picture is the latest work from Dk Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the creative duo behind the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated, hand-painted biopic Loving Vincent.
The pair co-wrote The Peasants screenplay adaptation from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic 1905 novel of the same name about a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village.
Poland’s Oscar entry choice was made Monday by a selection committee overseen by the Polish Film Institute. There was a strong offering of Polish films this year, with other potential contenders including Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of.
Related: Agnieszka Holland’s Migrant Crisis Drama ‘Green Border’ Posts Record Opening Weekend...
The picture is the latest work from Dk Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the creative duo behind the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated, hand-painted biopic Loving Vincent.
The pair co-wrote The Peasants screenplay adaptation from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic 1905 novel of the same name about a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village.
Poland’s Oscar entry choice was made Monday by a selection committee overseen by the Polish Film Institute. There was a strong offering of Polish films this year, with other potential contenders including Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of.
Related: Agnieszka Holland’s Migrant Crisis Drama ‘Green Border’ Posts Record Opening Weekend...
- 9/25/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Closing ceremony of festival in Gdynia sees Polish film community speak up against “awful hatred” directed at Holland in recent weeks.
Pawel Maslona’s second feature Scarborn (Kos) won the Grand Prix - Golden Lion at the 48th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia whose closing ceremony saw the Polish film community express their solidarity with Agnieszka Holland in the light of the vociferous political campaign against her and her film The Green Border.
In his acceptance speech, Maslona spoke out against the “awful hatred” directed at Holland in recent weeks and noted that, despite Poland being a country with a strong Christian faith,...
Pawel Maslona’s second feature Scarborn (Kos) won the Grand Prix - Golden Lion at the 48th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia whose closing ceremony saw the Polish film community express their solidarity with Agnieszka Holland in the light of the vociferous political campaign against her and her film The Green Border.
In his acceptance speech, Maslona spoke out against the “awful hatred” directed at Holland in recent weeks and noted that, despite Poland being a country with a strong Christian faith,...
- 9/25/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Steven Spielberg has said the final scene in Schindler’s List, where holocaust survivors visit the grave of Oskar Schindler, was a late addition to the pic and was his way of making sure audiences knew the film’s story was based on real-life facts.
“Holocaust denial was on the rise again — that was the entire reason I made the movie in 1993,” he told The Sunday Times during a recent interview. “That ending was a way to verify that everything in the movie was true.”
Spielberg continued to say that before Schindler’s List, he had never made a film that “so directly confronted a message” that he believed the world needed to hear.
“It had a vital message that is more important today than it even was in 1993 because antisemitism is so much worse today than it was when I made the film,” he added.
In addition to the film’s powerful political message,...
“Holocaust denial was on the rise again — that was the entire reason I made the movie in 1993,” he told The Sunday Times during a recent interview. “That ending was a way to verify that everything in the movie was true.”
Spielberg continued to say that before Schindler’s List, he had never made a film that “so directly confronted a message” that he believed the world needed to hear.
“It had a vital message that is more important today than it even was in 1993 because antisemitism is so much worse today than it was when I made the film,” he added.
In addition to the film’s powerful political message,...
- 1/29/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
David Fincher’s “Mank,” Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods,” and Pete Docter’s “Soul” were the big film winners at the 25th annual Art Directors Guild Awards Saturday evening, taking production design honors for period, fantasy, contemporary, and animated feature, respectively. Additionally, “The Mandalorian,” “Ozark,” and “The Queen’s Gambit” were among the TV winners at the ceremony, which bodes well for “The Mandalorian” and “The Queen’s Gambit’s” Emmy prospects in the craft category.
The annual awards fete the finest production design in movies, TV, commercials, music videos, and animated features in 12 categories.
The monochromatic “Mank” is the only film that took home an Adg award that is competing for Best Picture. Pixar’s “Soul” is the favorite for Best Animated Feature. Other Adg nominees included Oscar hopefuls “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
In terms of the Oscar race,...
The annual awards fete the finest production design in movies, TV, commercials, music videos, and animated features in 12 categories.
The monochromatic “Mank” is the only film that took home an Adg award that is competing for Best Picture. Pixar’s “Soul” is the favorite for Best Animated Feature. Other Adg nominees included Oscar hopefuls “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
In terms of the Oscar race,...
- 4/11/2021
- by Bill Desowitz and Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
Director Agnieszka Holland pulls off a difficult task — her true-life Holocaust tale neither trivializes the horror nor glamorizes individualized victims at the expense of the big picture. Marco Hofschneider is the inexperienced German teenager who by strange quirks of fate becomes a staunch Stalinist in a Communist school, then a Nazi war hero and candidate for Hitler Youth honors and adoption by a Nazi officer… if he can avoid being uncovered as a Jew in hiding. It sounds tasteless but it’s not — the true story of Solomon Perel reveals the ‘fluidity’ of ideology when survival is on the line. Our young hero must keep ‘becoming’ what he pretends to be. With André Wilms, René Hofschneider and Julie Delpy as a rabid Hitlerite.
Europa Europa
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 985
1990 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 112 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 9, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Marco Hofschneider, André Wilms, René Hofschneider, Julie Delpy,...
Europa Europa
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 985
1990 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 112 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 9, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Marco Hofschneider, André Wilms, René Hofschneider, Julie Delpy,...
- 4/25/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In honor of the 25th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece Schindler’s List, Universal Pictures will re-release the film in theaters with digitally remastered 4K picture and Dolby Atmos sound.
This film is hailed as being "one of the most significant endeavors in the history of cinema." It tells the powerful true story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust.
It is the triumph of one man who made a difference and the drama of those who survived one of the darkest chapters in human history because of what he did. Meticulously restored from the original film negative in pristine high definition and supervised by Spielberg, Schindler’s List is a powerful story whose lessons of courage and faith continue to inspire generations.
The movie won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Co-starring Ben Kingsley and Ralph Fiennes,...
This film is hailed as being "one of the most significant endeavors in the history of cinema." It tells the powerful true story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust.
It is the triumph of one man who made a difference and the drama of those who survived one of the darkest chapters in human history because of what he did. Meticulously restored from the original film negative in pristine high definition and supervised by Spielberg, Schindler’s List is a powerful story whose lessons of courage and faith continue to inspire generations.
The movie won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Co-starring Ben Kingsley and Ralph Fiennes,...
- 8/30/2018
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Universal Pictures will release a restored version of Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” on Dec. 7 for a limited theatrical engagement to commemorate the 25th anniversary of its opening.
“Schindler’s List” follows the enigmatic Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson, who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust. The film has been remastered in 4K, Dolby Cinema, and Dolby Atmos. Spielberg supervised the restoration from the original film negative.
The film won seven Academy Awards, including best picture and best director for Spielberg. It also won Oscars for composer John Williams, screenwriter Steven Zaillian, director of photography Janusz Kaminski, art directors Allan Starski and Ewa Braun, editor Michael Kahn, and producers Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen, and Branko Lustig. It was also a strong box office performer with $320 million worldwide.
Spielberg shot “Schindler’s List” in black-and-white over 72 days in Poland with the goal of giving the...
“Schindler’s List” follows the enigmatic Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson, who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust. The film has been remastered in 4K, Dolby Cinema, and Dolby Atmos. Spielberg supervised the restoration from the original film negative.
The film won seven Academy Awards, including best picture and best director for Spielberg. It also won Oscars for composer John Williams, screenwriter Steven Zaillian, director of photography Janusz Kaminski, art directors Allan Starski and Ewa Braun, editor Michael Kahn, and producers Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen, and Branko Lustig. It was also a strong box office performer with $320 million worldwide.
Spielberg shot “Schindler’s List” in black-and-white over 72 days in Poland with the goal of giving the...
- 8/29/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, Universal will be re-releasing the movie in a limited engagement on December 7, with picture and sound digitally remastered as overseen by the filmmaker. This includes a release in formats such as 4K, Dolby Cinema and Dolby Atmos.
Schindler’s List was a very personal film for Spielberg and it went on to win seven Oscars including Best Picture and his first as Best Director. It also is one of the top-grossing black-and-white films at the domestic box office with $96M, part of its $321.3M worldwide take. Schindler’s List tells the story of German industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust. The movie was released on December 15, 1993, and played limited before breaking 1,000 theaters in the middle of March 1994.
Co-starring Ben Kingsley and Ralph Fiennes, the film also earned Oscars for composer John Williams,...
Schindler’s List was a very personal film for Spielberg and it went on to win seven Oscars including Best Picture and his first as Best Director. It also is one of the top-grossing black-and-white films at the domestic box office with $96M, part of its $321.3M worldwide take. Schindler’s List tells the story of German industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust. The movie was released on December 15, 1993, and played limited before breaking 1,000 theaters in the middle of March 1994.
Co-starring Ben Kingsley and Ralph Fiennes, the film also earned Oscars for composer John Williams,...
- 8/29/2018
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Jeremy Irons, Tom Sturridge and Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City) have been confirmed as leads for the $7.5m production which is set to begin shooting at locations in Germany and Poland from May 2.
Us producer Michael London’s Groundswell Production has boarded Lajos Koltai’s next feature film The Treehouse (The Master of Farnow) which is being produced by Hamburg-based Transcorda Filmproduktion.
A time-honored story is set among an noble family on a Pomeranian estate in 1910. Paul Mayerberg adapted from Eduard von Keyserling’s novel “Schwüle Tage.” The novel follows a failed student, his glamorous cousin and family, and is set in pre-wwi Germany.
The director of photography on the movie will be Hungarian Gyula Pados who had also worked on Koltai’s Evening and Fateless, while production design will be controled by Academy Award winner Allan Starski. The score will be composed by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek. Costume design is by Anne Sheppard,...
Us producer Michael London’s Groundswell Production has boarded Lajos Koltai’s next feature film The Treehouse (The Master of Farnow) which is being produced by Hamburg-based Transcorda Filmproduktion.
A time-honored story is set among an noble family on a Pomeranian estate in 1910. Paul Mayerberg adapted from Eduard von Keyserling’s novel “Schwüle Tage.” The novel follows a failed student, his glamorous cousin and family, and is set in pre-wwi Germany.
The director of photography on the movie will be Hungarian Gyula Pados who had also worked on Koltai’s Evening and Fateless, while production design will be controled by Academy Award winner Allan Starski. The score will be composed by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek. Costume design is by Anne Sheppard,...
- 2/15/2011
- by Nikola Mraovic
- Filmofilia
PARIS -- Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist, the latest adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1838 classic, will begin a 16-week shoot in Prague on July 12 and is scheduled for a Christmas 2005 release, co-producer Robert Benmussa said Monday. Introducing Barney Clark -- a 10-year-old boy from Hackney, London, who has been cast in the leading role -- Polanski told a crowded news conference that he has stuck closely to Dickens to make what is "essentially a children's film," which would be "quite different" from his Oscar-winning The Pianist. The film reunites much of the Pianist team, including scriptwriter Ronald Harwood, cinematographer Pawel Edelman, production designer Allan Starski, film editor Herve de Luze, costume designer Anna B. Sheppard and actor Frank Finlay.
- 4/27/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens:
Friday, Feb. 20
Just as National Lampoon's Vacation begat "National Lampoon's European Vacation," so, too, has 2000's hit Road Trip paved the way for Eurotrip. And while it might have been tempting to this dismiss teen comedy as Eurotrash, it really isn't that bad, sophomorically speaking.
Although a number of the gags fall flatter than a crepe, the accent is on the charmingly juvenile as opposed to the purely puerile, with a fresh-faced cast of amiable young performers on hand to make the trek relatively painless.
Obviously DreamWorks, which is giving the picture the slot occupied this time last year by Old School (also from the Road Trip producing team), is looking to capture some of that boxoffice magic, and while Eurotrip isn't nearly as comically inspired, it should still play well with young male-skewing audiences.
Back when Road Trip hit the streets, the gross-out comedy was in full American Pie-fertilized bloom, but with the subgenre having thankfully bottomed out, the new breed likes to mix a little more naivete in with the naughty bits.
Hence the central character of Scotty, played by newcomer Scott Mechlowicz with the same sort of Jason Biggs nice-guy goofiness, a high school grad who finds himself en route to Europe to hook up with his German Internet pen pal Mieke (Jessica Boehrs) shortly after he was very publicly dumped by his girlfriend Fiona (Kristin Kreuk).
But before he gets to Berlin, Scotty and his sex-obsessed Buddy Cooper (Jacob Pitts) make pit stops in London and Paris -- where they hook up with friends Jenny (Michelle Trachtenberg) and her Frommer's Guide-wielding twin brother Jamie (Travis Wester) -- before moving on to Amsterdam, Bratislava, Rome and Vatican City.
Along the way they must deal with British soccer hooligans, annoying French human robots, a merciless Dutch dominatrix (Lucy Lawless) and a creepy, lascivious Italian guy on the train (Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen).
Not all of it works, but the bright cast makes it mainly agreeable, as do the supporting players, including Matt Damon in a cameo as a tattooed rocker who performs (courtesy of the band Lustra) the very funny and very catchy Scotty Doesn't Know, which takes stock of Scotty's ex-girlfriend's various infidelities.
Making his directorial debut is Jeff Schaffer, who, along with fellow scripters Alec Berg and David Mandel, were former editors of the Harvard Lampoon before graduating to Seinfeld and more recently collaborated on Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat.
Their gently risque style seems better suited to the teen sex comedy than to Dr. Seuss, but the most impressive work here is done by production designer Allan Starski (Schindler's List) and visual effects supervisor Kevin Blank, who manage to create reasonable facsimiles of all the above-mentioned destinations without ever setting foot off of the production's Prague home base.
Eurotrip
DreamWorks Pictures
DreamWorks Pictures presentsa Montecito Picture Co. productionA Berg/Mandel/Schaffer film
Credits:
Director: Jeff Schaffer
Screenwriters: Alec Berg & David Mandel & Jeff Schaffer
Producers: Daniel Goldberg, Jackie Marcus, Alec Berg, David Mandel
Executive producers: Ivan Reitman, Tom Pollick, Joe Medjuck
Director of photography: David Eggby
Production designer: Allan Starski
Editor: Roger Bondelli
Costume designer: Julia Caston
Music: James L. Venable
Cast:
Scotty Thomas: Scott Mechlowicz
Jenny: Michelle Trachtenberg
Cooper Harris: Jacob Pitts
Jamie: Travis Wester
Mieke: Jessica Boehrs
Madame Vandersexxx: Lucy Lawless
Mad Maynard: Vinnie Jones
Creepy Italian Guy: Fred Armisen
Donny: Matt Damon
Fiona: Kristin Kreuk
Running time -- 92 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Friday, Feb. 20
Just as National Lampoon's Vacation begat "National Lampoon's European Vacation," so, too, has 2000's hit Road Trip paved the way for Eurotrip. And while it might have been tempting to this dismiss teen comedy as Eurotrash, it really isn't that bad, sophomorically speaking.
Although a number of the gags fall flatter than a crepe, the accent is on the charmingly juvenile as opposed to the purely puerile, with a fresh-faced cast of amiable young performers on hand to make the trek relatively painless.
Obviously DreamWorks, which is giving the picture the slot occupied this time last year by Old School (also from the Road Trip producing team), is looking to capture some of that boxoffice magic, and while Eurotrip isn't nearly as comically inspired, it should still play well with young male-skewing audiences.
Back when Road Trip hit the streets, the gross-out comedy was in full American Pie-fertilized bloom, but with the subgenre having thankfully bottomed out, the new breed likes to mix a little more naivete in with the naughty bits.
Hence the central character of Scotty, played by newcomer Scott Mechlowicz with the same sort of Jason Biggs nice-guy goofiness, a high school grad who finds himself en route to Europe to hook up with his German Internet pen pal Mieke (Jessica Boehrs) shortly after he was very publicly dumped by his girlfriend Fiona (Kristin Kreuk).
But before he gets to Berlin, Scotty and his sex-obsessed Buddy Cooper (Jacob Pitts) make pit stops in London and Paris -- where they hook up with friends Jenny (Michelle Trachtenberg) and her Frommer's Guide-wielding twin brother Jamie (Travis Wester) -- before moving on to Amsterdam, Bratislava, Rome and Vatican City.
Along the way they must deal with British soccer hooligans, annoying French human robots, a merciless Dutch dominatrix (Lucy Lawless) and a creepy, lascivious Italian guy on the train (Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen).
Not all of it works, but the bright cast makes it mainly agreeable, as do the supporting players, including Matt Damon in a cameo as a tattooed rocker who performs (courtesy of the band Lustra) the very funny and very catchy Scotty Doesn't Know, which takes stock of Scotty's ex-girlfriend's various infidelities.
Making his directorial debut is Jeff Schaffer, who, along with fellow scripters Alec Berg and David Mandel, were former editors of the Harvard Lampoon before graduating to Seinfeld and more recently collaborated on Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat.
Their gently risque style seems better suited to the teen sex comedy than to Dr. Seuss, but the most impressive work here is done by production designer Allan Starski (Schindler's List) and visual effects supervisor Kevin Blank, who manage to create reasonable facsimiles of all the above-mentioned destinations without ever setting foot off of the production's Prague home base.
Eurotrip
DreamWorks Pictures
DreamWorks Pictures presentsa Montecito Picture Co. productionA Berg/Mandel/Schaffer film
Credits:
Director: Jeff Schaffer
Screenwriters: Alec Berg & David Mandel & Jeff Schaffer
Producers: Daniel Goldberg, Jackie Marcus, Alec Berg, David Mandel
Executive producers: Ivan Reitman, Tom Pollick, Joe Medjuck
Director of photography: David Eggby
Production designer: Allan Starski
Editor: Roger Bondelli
Costume designer: Julia Caston
Music: James L. Venable
Cast:
Scotty Thomas: Scott Mechlowicz
Jenny: Michelle Trachtenberg
Cooper Harris: Jacob Pitts
Jamie: Travis Wester
Mieke: Jessica Boehrs
Madame Vandersexxx: Lucy Lawless
Mad Maynard: Vinnie Jones
Creepy Italian Guy: Fred Armisen
Donny: Matt Damon
Fiona: Kristin Kreuk
Running time -- 92 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 3/15/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "The Pianist".
CANNES -- Roman Polanski, who survived the Nazi occupation of Poland as a young boy, has finally made a film about this horrifying period in that country's history. Because he didn't want the film to be autobiographical, he and writer Ronald Harwood selected as source material a 1946 memoir by Jewish pianist and composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, "Death of a City", a book noted for the detached tone of its recollection of misery, disease and near starvation in Warsaw. Polanski takes a similar tack, which makes for a remote emotional experience. What Szpilman goes through is beyond incredible. Yet "The Pianist" recounts those torments less through his eyes than in a cool third-person narration, keenly observing but uninvolved.
Too many books, documentaries and features already have told this story for Polanski's version to have the international boxoffice impact it deserves. His name will, of course, attract many. But you can't help feel disappointed that one of the few directors who actually lived through this tragic period isn't able to personalize the material more.
The scale of this production is epic. Entire streets of a now vanished city are re-created in Berlin's Babelsberg Studios and miniatures and digital effects later portray a city turned into an uninhabitable wasteland.
In the central role, Adrien Brody does his best with a highly educated character who is initially aloof to the coming trouble and then, as his dilemma becomes painfully obvious, scared and reactive.
When Germany invades Poland in September 1939, Wladyslaw is literally blown off the air when a bomb drops near a Warsaw radio studio while he plays Chopin. He returns home, where his parents (Frank Finlay and Maureen Lipman) are packing to leave, but their grown children prefer to stay, especially hot-headed brother Henryk (Ed Stoppard), who wants to fight. News of Britain and France's declaration of war against Germany causes everyone to stay, but soon the family has no choice. The Nazis enter the city on October 1.
The film charts the now all-too-familiar outrages. Initially forbidden to eat here or stroll there, Wladyslaw's family and all the Jews are eventually herded into a walled ghetto created by the Germans. Here Wladyslaw is able to find work playing piano in a restaurant. Then in 1942, whole blocks are marched into cattle cars and shipped to the Treblinka death camp.
An acquaintance in the Jewish police pulls Wladyslaw from his family's march and saves his life. He is anything but free, though. A three-year odyssey takes him from one hiding place to the next. People help him, perhaps out of friendship or kindness or perhaps -- the movie never really gets into it -- because of his celebrity status as a top Warsaw musician.
As his ordeal nears its end, a German officer (Thomas Kretschmann) comes to his rescue with food and even the gift of his coat. You never understand why this helping hand comes from an enemy. Perhaps the captain simply got tired of killing. He then disappears, evidently doomed to die in a Soviet POW camp.
Working with cinematographer Pawel Edelman and designer Allan Starski, Polanski re-creates the sweep of history. Color drains away and Wojciech Kilar's music grows increasingly solemn. But the movie lacks those specific personal moments that pull an audience into a story and let them identify with a character. Other than his musical skills, Wladislaw is a little too much the all-purpose victim-survivor.
In fact, as other Jews and Poles get executed right and left, you wonder why you are supposed to care so mightily for this particular man. He never even experiences any guilt that a seemingly invisible protective cloak around him benefits no one else.
Since Wladislaw is often alone, how he feels about what is happening to him other than such primal emotions as hunger and fear isn't always clear. The movie recounts its tales of horror and triumph, but never makes the viewer experience them.
THE PIANIST
R.P. Productions/Heritage Films/Studio Babelsberg/Runteam Ltd.
Credits:
Director: Roman Polanski
Writer: Ronald Harwood
Based on the book by: Wladyslaw Szpilman
Producers: Roman Polanski, Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde
Director of photography: Pawel Edelman
Production designer: Allan Starski
Costume designer: Anna Sheppard
Co-producer: Gene Gutowski
Music: Wojciech Kilar
Editor: Herve De Luze
Cast:
Wladyslaw Szpilman: Adrien Brody
Captain Wilm Hosenfeld: Thomas Kretschmann
The father: Frank Finlay
The mother: Maureen Lipman
Dorota: Emilia Fox
Henryk: Ed Stoppard
Regina: Julia Raayner
Halina: Jessica Kate Meyer
Running time -- 148 minutes
No MPAA rating...
CANNES -- Roman Polanski, who survived the Nazi occupation of Poland as a young boy, has finally made a film about this horrifying period in that country's history. Because he didn't want the film to be autobiographical, he and writer Ronald Harwood selected as source material a 1946 memoir by Jewish pianist and composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, "Death of a City", a book noted for the detached tone of its recollection of misery, disease and near starvation in Warsaw. Polanski takes a similar tack, which makes for a remote emotional experience. What Szpilman goes through is beyond incredible. Yet "The Pianist" recounts those torments less through his eyes than in a cool third-person narration, keenly observing but uninvolved.
Too many books, documentaries and features already have told this story for Polanski's version to have the international boxoffice impact it deserves. His name will, of course, attract many. But you can't help feel disappointed that one of the few directors who actually lived through this tragic period isn't able to personalize the material more.
The scale of this production is epic. Entire streets of a now vanished city are re-created in Berlin's Babelsberg Studios and miniatures and digital effects later portray a city turned into an uninhabitable wasteland.
In the central role, Adrien Brody does his best with a highly educated character who is initially aloof to the coming trouble and then, as his dilemma becomes painfully obvious, scared and reactive.
When Germany invades Poland in September 1939, Wladyslaw is literally blown off the air when a bomb drops near a Warsaw radio studio while he plays Chopin. He returns home, where his parents (Frank Finlay and Maureen Lipman) are packing to leave, but their grown children prefer to stay, especially hot-headed brother Henryk (Ed Stoppard), who wants to fight. News of Britain and France's declaration of war against Germany causes everyone to stay, but soon the family has no choice. The Nazis enter the city on October 1.
The film charts the now all-too-familiar outrages. Initially forbidden to eat here or stroll there, Wladyslaw's family and all the Jews are eventually herded into a walled ghetto created by the Germans. Here Wladyslaw is able to find work playing piano in a restaurant. Then in 1942, whole blocks are marched into cattle cars and shipped to the Treblinka death camp.
An acquaintance in the Jewish police pulls Wladyslaw from his family's march and saves his life. He is anything but free, though. A three-year odyssey takes him from one hiding place to the next. People help him, perhaps out of friendship or kindness or perhaps -- the movie never really gets into it -- because of his celebrity status as a top Warsaw musician.
As his ordeal nears its end, a German officer (Thomas Kretschmann) comes to his rescue with food and even the gift of his coat. You never understand why this helping hand comes from an enemy. Perhaps the captain simply got tired of killing. He then disappears, evidently doomed to die in a Soviet POW camp.
Working with cinematographer Pawel Edelman and designer Allan Starski, Polanski re-creates the sweep of history. Color drains away and Wojciech Kilar's music grows increasingly solemn. But the movie lacks those specific personal moments that pull an audience into a story and let them identify with a character. Other than his musical skills, Wladislaw is a little too much the all-purpose victim-survivor.
In fact, as other Jews and Poles get executed right and left, you wonder why you are supposed to care so mightily for this particular man. He never even experiences any guilt that a seemingly invisible protective cloak around him benefits no one else.
Since Wladislaw is often alone, how he feels about what is happening to him other than such primal emotions as hunger and fear isn't always clear. The movie recounts its tales of horror and triumph, but never makes the viewer experience them.
THE PIANIST
R.P. Productions/Heritage Films/Studio Babelsberg/Runteam Ltd.
Credits:
Director: Roman Polanski
Writer: Ronald Harwood
Based on the book by: Wladyslaw Szpilman
Producers: Roman Polanski, Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde
Director of photography: Pawel Edelman
Production designer: Allan Starski
Costume designer: Anna Sheppard
Co-producer: Gene Gutowski
Music: Wojciech Kilar
Editor: Herve De Luze
Cast:
Wladyslaw Szpilman: Adrien Brody
Captain Wilm Hosenfeld: Thomas Kretschmann
The father: Frank Finlay
The mother: Maureen Lipman
Dorota: Emilia Fox
Henryk: Ed Stoppard
Regina: Julia Raayner
Halina: Jessica Kate Meyer
Running time -- 148 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 12/27/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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