+ Best B/W Movie of the Year + Polish Movie of the Year
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| The photogenic couple of Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War exude delicious love on this aesthetically delectable B/W poster for the film |
Among a batch of young hopefuls to a rural music and dance school in Poland in 1949 is a young woman, whom one of the institution's leaders immediately strikes up a relation to, and the two subsequently share a complex love story under the duress of the Cold War.
Cold War is written by Janusz Glowacki (A Trip Down the River/Rejs (1970)), Piotr Borkowski (Fear of Falling/Lek Wysokosci (2011)) and its great Polish co-writer/director Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida (2013)), on whose parents' love story the story is based.
Cold War, - a title which both obviously refers to the politically and practically hostile climate people suffered under during Soviet Communism, as well as hinting at the mercurial, complex nature of the two leads' relationship, - is a rare, European treat: Pawlikowski and Co. reproduce another for younger generations far away but for older generations not so distant reality and way of life, and the production is evocative and sumptuous, yet subtly sumptuous, if such a thing exists, as it all is merely background for the film's main mission: A story of two partners in love.
Joanna Kulig (The Innocents/Les Innocentes (2016)) and Tomasz Kot (Life Must Go On/Zyc Nie Umierac (2015)) are terrific as the moody blond with the divine singing voice and he the older, respected musician, who suffers a fatal run-in with love in his meeting the other.
Lukasz Zal's (Ida) stark B/W, and the film's 4:3 format, rare in modern cinema, help to relocate us to a different time and place, and we instinctively believe in our two protagonists' gnawing devotion, which is tested and inflicted pain through politically inflicted years apart. The photography is marvelously picturesque, and the film focuses on folk songs and traditional Polish music, which breaks forth with a rural poetic quality in these fine images.
Soviet influence soon ruins this by inserting autocratic idolatry and ideological brainwashing as the aim of all creative output, and circumstances wear and tear on the two.
SPOILER The film is a supreme experience until its ending, in which the couple engage in sudden suicide, - inside a derelict country church, no less. Pawlikowski's own parents, - who were neither musicians nor had a relation of the just 15 years that the story spans, - are thus put down by their son in a most mysterious and revolting ending for the film. - I haven't read anywhere whether they actually committed suicide together in real life, but regardless, this confusion and incomprehensible ending of the film seriously damages the lasting impact of Cold War. - The two also do not seem to have born their son the filmmaker yet! A superb film is therefore marred seriously by a seemingly excessively bitter pill of Eastern European suicidal romanticism, one of the worst movie endings in recent memory.
Related posts:
Pawel Pawlikowski: 2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Ida (2013) - Pawlikowski scores big with resounding identity-tale
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 4.3 mil. €, approximately 4.88 mil. $
Box office: 17.3 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit (returned 3.56 times its cost)
[Cold War premiered 10 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 85 minutes. Financing came together through no less than 24 companies and governmental bodies. Shooting took place in Croatia, Poland and Paris, France from January - August 2017. The film opened #35 to a 54k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it has peaked at #24 and currently in 217 theaters (different weeks), having grossed to date 2.1 mil. $ (12.1 % of the total gross). North America has been the 3rd biggest market; Cold War has done most business in Poland with 4.8 mil. $ (27.7 %) and France with 2.6 mil. $ (15 %). The film is nominated for 3 Oscars: Best Foreign Film, Director and Cinematography. It is also nominated for 4 BAFTAs, a British Independent Film award, won the Best Director prize in Cannes, nominated for a César award, won 5/6 European Film award nominations, a National Board of Review award and countless other honors. Pawlikowski is returning with Limonov (pre-production), - which is to be done in color. Kulig returned in Play (2018, short) and theatrically in Clergy/Kler (2018), Kot in Dzien Czekolady (2018). Cold War is certified fresh at 93 % with an 8.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Cold War?
