More Oscar homework! And I was even more reluctant to see this. An artsy and romantic foreign film? Ugh, do I have to? The foreign and cinematography nods aren’t enough to get me to go, but the director bid is. As much as I complain about these required homework movies, sometimes they’re actually very worth it
Zula and Wiktor meet in post-war Poland, working in a cultural performing group. The two fall madly in love and make a plot to escape the country’s turmoil together. From there, we jump ahead every few years to check in with the couple and where they’re at.
It doesn’t sound like something I’d be into, right? Yet I was. I think it was the performing arts aspect that first drew me in. We begin with lots of rehearsal and auditions putting together the tour that brought them together. I loved watching the dance sequences. As it went on, I was loving the music that played. There’s this one song that keeps coming back throughout the film, slightly different each time, that served as an illustration of their story. It was incredibly effective at heightening the emotional impact.
The story was fast paced and quick. Didn’t linger on anything it didn’t need to, not even on exposition. My movie buddy that saw it with me said that the filmmakers didn’t assume the audience was stupid. They acted as though we’re smart enough to pick up on the small queues of the scenes to fill in the blanks with every jump. It almost became like watching a mystery, trying to piece together what happened in those gaps, but was ultimately so satisfying.
The ending (no spoilers) messed me up so bad. I had a suspicions of what general direction their story would go, but the unexpected execution of it knocked the air out of me.
For all the people who complain that the Academy Awards are total bull and not worth their time, I find it’s worth it to draw attention to films like these. I would have never seen this if it wasn’t for that director nomination. And I’m oh so very glad that I did.
Cold War – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n