+ Best Polish Movie of the Year
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| The picture on this poster for Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida shows the identity-shaping haze that the title character finds herself in in the movie |
Ida is the 5th feature from great Polish writer/director Pawel Pawlikowski (My Summer of Love (2004)), a Danish-Polish co-production that takes place in Poland somewhere in the 1950's.
Ida is a young girl in a convent soon to take her vows to Jesus Christ and her sisterhood, when her superior tells her that she has to first go and meet her only relative left, her aunt, before she takes the last step. The aunt, a former DA, has shocking stories to tell about Ida's family background.
Ida is a film that has taken a victorious journey through several countries and become a surprise hit. A surprise because it is shot in B/W, in 4:3-format, in Polish, with little music, artsy photography, often hauntingly beautiful, and a 1950's plot about a nun and a dark past. It is somber and gloomy and very Eastern European in all of these respects.
And yet it strikes chords with audiences seemingly everywhere. Because Ida is more than those listed elements; it is also a captivating story of identity, faith, what makes you you, and why you make the choices in life that you do. It's obviously got a story that is fraught with meaningful, thematic material, (because all of this material is contained in its just 80 minutes playtime.) It is inspired by two true stories, which are altered to fit into this joined story.
The praises for the film available are overwhelming, and I don't recommend that you delve into them, because they may leave you expecting something that no film can really deliver. Ida is a carefully shaped little diamond, which comes to vivid life early on in its story and remains there for its concise duration.
Ida lives also on especially two very strong acting performances: Agata Trzebuchowska is debuting in the title lead, and her unafraid, stone-faced strength and curiosity is a firm foundation for the journey of the film. She has announced that, despite her good performance and the film's success, she does not want to be an actress. The other great performance is from Agata Kulesza (Suicide Room (2011)), who is simply brilliant as the semi-alcoholic, distressed aunt Wanda.
Ida is a strong and serious film that you will want to see and form your own opinion about.
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Cost: Approximately 2 mil.€, equal to approximately 2.16 mil. $
Box office: 11.1 mil. $
= Big hit
[Ida's impressive American result is not unique, in that it has also gotten fine attendances in European countries: The few reported are Italy (where it earned 0.5 mil. euros) and France (421,000 admissions). The film has yet to open in several countries, including Denmark, which will happen on November 27.]
What do you think of Ida?
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