‘Countries’ Archives
My Sweet Little Village
Vesničko má středisková Czechoslovakia, 1985, colour, 100 mins A gigantic box-office hit on its original release (5 million tickets sold in a country whose population wasn't much more than double that), Jiří Menzel's gently subversive comedy My Sweet Little Village is clearly regarded with immense and continuing affection in the Czech [...]
Saviour’s Square
Saviour's Square Plac Zbawiciela 2006, colour, 105 mins Directors: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze Producer: Juliusz Machulski Script: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze, with additional dialogue by Arkadiusz Janiczek, Jowita Miondlikowska, Ewa Wencel Camera: Wojciech Staroń Editing: Krzysztof Szpetmański Production Design: Monika [...]
Best Foreign Film Oscar longlist announced
According to the Hollywood Reporter, a record 63 films are on the initial longlist for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. The full list is here, and these are the Central and Eastern European submissions: Azerbaijan: Caucasia (d. Farid Gumbatov) Bosnia and Herzegovina: It's Hard to Be Nice/Teško je biti fin (d. Srđan Vuletić) - [...]
The Debt
Dług Poland, 1999, colour, 102 minsI've been asked to write a short piece on the Polish director Krzysztof Krauze for the London Film Festival website (his latest film Saviour's Square/Plac Zbawiciela is screening there on October 24 and 27), so I caught up with his 1999 breakthrough film The Debt. I knew absolutely nothing about it in advance [...]
István Gaál RIP
I was very sorry to hear about the death of Hungarian director István Gaál (1933-2007), because I'd only just discovered his work via Roots (Gyökerek), a marvellous three-part television documentary about the composer Béla Bartók, made in 2002 - which has just jumped to the top of my "to review" list. The Falcons (Magasiskola, 1970) is [...]
Peasant Diaries
Peasant Diaries Pamiętniki chłopów Poland, 1952, black and white, 13 minsMade the year after the overtly Socialist Realist propaganda film Destination Nowa Huta! (Kierunek - Nowa Huta!), Andrzej Munk's Peasant Diaries derives from the same tradition, duly adopting many of the same archetypes and clichés (you half expect the ruddy-cheeked [...]
Destination Nowa Huta!
Kierunek - Nowa Huta! Poland, 1951, black and white, 12 minsWatching Destination Nowa Huta! for the first time, I felt a strong sense of déjà vu, as this is undoubtedly the film that inspired Andrzej Wajda's parody of an early 1950s Stalinist propaganda newsreel in his film Man of Marble (Człowiek z marmuru, 1977). That fake film's poster-boy [...]
Polish cinema abroad
Anyone whose Polish is up to it may be interested to read this recent article by Ola Salwa in the Polish weekly magazine Przekrój - I was interviewed for it a few weeks ago. I can't even offer a précis, I'm afraid, but a Polish friend assures me it's very good.
Sight & Sound on Romanian cinema
A small selection of articles and reviews from the latest issue of Sight & Sound has just gone online, including Nick Roddick's admirably comprehensive report on current Romanian cinema, discussing the origins of its terrific run of artistic successes over the last two years, and whether this is sustainable given the parlous state of the [...]
Katyń links
I'm getting a lot of visitors in search of reviews of Andrzej Wajda's new film Katyń, so I thought I'd create a separate post offering annotated links - I'll update this over the next few days as more start to appear. First-hand account of the Warsaw premiere by Loxodonta (Defending Defense blog, 18 September 2007); Very brief comments by [...]