On the backdrop of Polish cinema this was a refreshing experience showing that Polish movies don't have to fall into two very typical categories: A) dumb and entertaining; B) drab and bleak. This debut from Borys Lankosz has an atypical feel to it with a nicely paced composition of ingenuity, subtle humour, homage touches (with a Casablanca-like character to boot) and delicate Communist nostalgia.
Mid-20 Sabina Jankowska (Agata Buzek) lives with her mother (Krystyna Janda) and her grandmother (Anna Polony) in Stalin-era Warsaw. She works in a state printing house as an editor, but most of her focus seems to be on finding a man in life. Quiet and subdued she goes unnoticed by most, whilst those who do notice her are not in her sphere of interest. Until one night she is saved from two muggers by a handsome mysterious young man Bronisław Falski (Marcin Dorociński). Will this be Sabina's love of her lifetime?
Filmed in black and white and completed with real life footage back from the 1950s showing the rebuilding of Warsaw it is definitely an engaging experience. Even more so that the lead character of Sabina played by Agata Buzek, who gives a masterful and thankfully subtle performance. Also Marcin Dorociński is superb in his role - starting off as a noir-type hero to effortlessly transform into a simpleminded arrogant prick. Unfortunately the rest of the lead characters are very much Polish old-school acting, so over-exuberance and woodenness are all too obvious (an especially unconvincing performance was given by Polish legend Janda). That said I just get easily irritated by the type of acting so prevalent in Polish movies, so I may be biased...
All in all a very nice movie. Photography is good (lighting is great and settings are of a very high standard), but some of the scenes seem to be overcooked just so that the DOP can show off some ideas, although it added nothing to the scenes. I also have issues with the colour scenes (set in modern times), which seem poorly done as if made by a totally different crew. Well maybe it's true that is is easier to shoot in B&W given the proper lighting? The script is generally fine, although some dialogues are overly poetic, complex and hence unrealistic, especially when coming from the mouth of a supposedly uneducated Bronisław. Also there are some real inconsistencies in the plot itself (Bronisław said he told his secret-service comrades that he was dating Sabina, yet no one thought of interrogating her about his disappearance?) as well as some very unlikely key plot moments (it is very highly unrealistic that Bronisław could have known that Sabina is swallowing a gold coin). I did however like the subtle humour, even though I felt some of the scenes quite forced and they never really flew for me.
Definitely a good sign that such a movie was made. But on the other hand I feel that local exaltations over this Polish noir flick are highly exaggerated. It's an OKish movie by international standards, albeit a good one for Polish norms (for a similar but superior movie see "Das Leben des Anderen"). A building block with hope for a new future breed of Polish filmmakers.
Mid-20 Sabina Jankowska (Agata Buzek) lives with her mother (Krystyna Janda) and her grandmother (Anna Polony) in Stalin-era Warsaw. She works in a state printing house as an editor, but most of her focus seems to be on finding a man in life. Quiet and subdued she goes unnoticed by most, whilst those who do notice her are not in her sphere of interest. Until one night she is saved from two muggers by a handsome mysterious young man Bronisław Falski (Marcin Dorociński). Will this be Sabina's love of her lifetime?
Filmed in black and white and completed with real life footage back from the 1950s showing the rebuilding of Warsaw it is definitely an engaging experience. Even more so that the lead character of Sabina played by Agata Buzek, who gives a masterful and thankfully subtle performance. Also Marcin Dorociński is superb in his role - starting off as a noir-type hero to effortlessly transform into a simpleminded arrogant prick. Unfortunately the rest of the lead characters are very much Polish old-school acting, so over-exuberance and woodenness are all too obvious (an especially unconvincing performance was given by Polish legend Janda). That said I just get easily irritated by the type of acting so prevalent in Polish movies, so I may be biased...
All in all a very nice movie. Photography is good (lighting is great and settings are of a very high standard), but some of the scenes seem to be overcooked just so that the DOP can show off some ideas, although it added nothing to the scenes. I also have issues with the colour scenes (set in modern times), which seem poorly done as if made by a totally different crew. Well maybe it's true that is is easier to shoot in B&W given the proper lighting? The script is generally fine, although some dialogues are overly poetic, complex and hence unrealistic, especially when coming from the mouth of a supposedly uneducated Bronisław. Also there are some real inconsistencies in the plot itself (Bronisław said he told his secret-service comrades that he was dating Sabina, yet no one thought of interrogating her about his disappearance?) as well as some very unlikely key plot moments (it is very highly unrealistic that Bronisław could have known that Sabina is swallowing a gold coin). I did however like the subtle humour, even though I felt some of the scenes quite forced and they never really flew for me.
Definitely a good sign that such a movie was made. But on the other hand I feel that local exaltations over this Polish noir flick are highly exaggerated. It's an OKish movie by international standards, albeit a good one for Polish norms (for a similar but superior movie see "Das Leben des Anderen"). A building block with hope for a new future breed of Polish filmmakers.