Presented through BAM, “Kino Polska: New Polish Cinema” showcases a series of seven thought provoking and compelling feature films created by a diverse group of Polish film makers. While touching on varied topics and themes, each film is embedded with political and sociological concern.
Agnieszka Holland’s “Mr. Jones” (2019), focuses on the 1930’s Holodomor and the political censorship of journalists in the USSR. Bartosz Kruhlik’s thriller “Supernova” (2019) takes on the difficult task of demonstrating societies moral undoing caused by mob mentality. The dystopian film “Eastern” (2019), directed by Piotr Adamski, cleverly touches on contemporary conservative politics through a near unbreakable family blood feud.
Mariko Bobrik and Piotr Domalewski’s films focus on family and socio-economic politics. Bobrik’s touching drama “The Taste Of Pho”(2019) portrays the graceful fidelity of maintaining ones culture while immigrating and assimilating into a new country. Domalewski’s film “I Never Cry” (2020) is a coming-of-age story that displays the hardships undergone by families forced to immigrate for financial stability. Most unique and obscure from the series is Mariusz Wilczynski’s bleak and desolate animation “Kill It And Leave This Town” (2020), which bends reality to show one’s inner torment living in a small industrial city.
Mr. Jones (Agnieszka Holland)
In the early 1930’s a man-made famine eats its way through Russia and across Soviet Ukraine, seemingly the outside world is ignorant to these dying people’s cries for help— journalist Gareth Jones discovers it is the Soviet government who is hushing their screams to whimpers.
Agnieszka Holland’s “Mr. Jones” follows the career of a mid-twenty year old Gareth Jones, from being dismissed from working as the British MP’s Foreign Affairs Adviser, to dedicating himself as a full-time investigative journalist. Mr. Jones’, (James Norton), primary concern throughout the film is uncovering the source of Russia’s apparent affluence; what he discovers is a secret catastrophe killing millions to maintain the illusion of progress and prosperity.
Holland’s political thriller emphasis Gareth Jones’ journalistic integrity, how he believed he had an obligation to provide people with unequivocal facts to ensure liberty and justice. Mr. Jones had a “by any means” attitude in his approach at exposing the worlds political atrocities, apposing the enforced journalistic confinement and censorship that afflicted journalistic ethics at the time. Comparable to “fake news” that is broadcasted in todays world, and so easily accepted as truths, the display of unwaveringly honourable journalistic style shown in “Mr. Jones” is an attempt at opening the eyes of those who have become desensitized to modern propaganda.
Score: B
Supernova (Bartosz Kruhlik)
Disaster surfaces and tragedy unfolds on a single long road in Bartosz Kruhlik’s film “Supernova”.
What starts as a harrowing tale of a family being torn apart by a father’s inability to remain sober, quickly turns into an entire communities epic demand for justice over a single life altering accident. This long road morphs itself into a type of interactive stage, where this small family’s misfortunate becomes akin to a greek tragedy, the rural community an audience thrown into hysteric grievance over the disaster’s casualties.
While this family’s tale is one of death, disgrace and betrayal, it is in the actions of their wreckage’s bystanders that the film’s audience witnesses how a single event can effect countless people, even unknowingly.
Working off the cause and effect theory, Kruhlik stretches one incident into a microcosm. By doing so “Supernova” impressively examines multiple sociological phenomena including; power dynamics, addiction, authority, class relations, politics, and mob mentality.
Score: B-
The Taste of Pho (Mariko Bobrik)
Japanese-Polish director Mariko Bobrik’s film “The Taste of Pho” is a heart filled and touching story displaying the wide ranging perspectives of the immigrant experience. The film focuses on opposing experiences undergone by a Vietnamese widower and his daughter as they navigate through their new life in Poland.
Tradition and culture quickly leave the heart of young Maja, a multiracial 10 year-old played by Lena Nguyen, as she attempts to grasp at her new idea of normality. Maja sees herself as an outcast among her young peers, in an attempt to form her new identity she begins withdrawing from her home culture and embracing Polish norms.
Assimilation does not come as easy for Long, played by Thang Long Do. Long’s days are dedicated to providing for his daughter, first in their home life, and second through his work. His physical remaining connection to Vietnam is found through family visitation and the action of preparing Vietnamese food, specifically Pho.
“The Taste of Pho” exposes multiple troubling realities faced by immigrants, including “othering”, micro-aggressions, grief and fear of rejection. Countering these hardships, the film gracefully displays the resiliency of those adapting, showing how the strength of a family bond, and the remembrance found in food can unify even the smallest of communities.
Score: B
I Never Cry (Piotr Domalewski)
Ola, a 17 year-old girl from Poland, played by Zofia Stafiej in “I Never Cry”, has a complicated relationship with her father. The sole connection remaining between them is their communication on whether or not she has passed her drivers test. Ola’s father made a promise to her that once she gains her license he will buy her a car, this becomes the central goal for Ola minutes into the film. This objective is derailed when her family is informed of his sudden death. Ola’s new responsibility is to claim and retrieve her father’s body from Ireland, bringing him back to his family in Poland.
The young protagonist of Piotr Domalewski’s film is first introduced as an overly angsty and ill-tempered girl, later we learn her attitude is a result of a less than ideal home life. Ola comes from a low-income household, her mother spends much of her time as a care taker for her son who is disabled, and her father is estranged. In her journey to recover her father’s remains she incidentally learns about him through the eyes of the people who cared for him. With her new found perspective she is able to understand the loss she felt in his absence, providing Ola with a personal awakening and a sense of emotional grounding. Piotr Domalewski’s coming of age story displays a unique narrative showing the negative affects on youth caused by a family members required economic emigration.
Score: B
Eastern (Piotr Adamski)
A family blood feud pins two young girls against each other in Piotr Adamski’s film “Eastern”. The philosophy of “an eye for an eye” comes into play in a lavish suburb in dystopian Poland when the Nowak and Kowalska families begin sacrificing their children for the sake of preserving pride and abiding to a twisted law.
Ewa Nowak, played by Maja Pankiewicz, is the youngest of her family and the next required to take revenge on her families’ nemesis. When Ewa skillfully handles her job she becomes a community known threat, someone to approach with caution, and to be dealt with swiftly. Retaliating, the Kowalska family send off their own daughter, Klara, played by Paulina Krzyzanska, to stand for their name by hunting Ewa. It is on this hunt, when Klara and Ewa come face to face, that they both begin to question the weight of family honour. In an effort to cease the feud between their houses they seek alternative methods of retribution.
The film slides through long shots of elegant and polished suburban streets, with flashes of horrified children running through lush forests and dark hall ways, to represent the contrast between the families opulent appearing day lives with their dignity threatening curse.
Piotr Adamski states his debut film is inspired by an ancient Albanian code of conduct, pertaining to retaliation killings, known as Kanun; and that “Eastern”’s application of this concept is an attempt to open discussion comparatively to Polands conservative policies.
Score: B-
Kill It And Leave This Town (Mariusz Wilczynski)
Infested by the shadows that lurk behind each corner, and the grime that fills an unkept crevice, the town which Mariusz Wilczynski’s characters in “Kill It And Leave This Town” occupy is but a reflection of their souls lamenting mortality, and their grievances for time lost.
This town is filled with severed heads rolling through streets, human bodies chopped along side gutted fish, and bloody beaked birds picking at insects from irritated people’s windows. Its people are filled with distrust and impatience for each other, unattended loneliness, and an aching for understanding.
Mariusz Wilczynski’s animated feature “Kill It And Leave This Town” lacks a sequential plot-line and endlessly alternates perspectives. Each newly introduced perspective weaves itself as a new piece to the on going disjointed story. While there are moments of clarity in each story, where the audience obtains a sense of aching humanity from each character’s tellings, it is not their sole purpose to provide understanding of the films whole; rather the film itself is a sensationalizing piece that aims to provoke a sense of shared tormenting.
Score: B-
(Full film review of Never Gonna Snow Again available here)
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