Chris Knipp Writing: Movies, Politics, Art


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:55 pm 
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Kino Polska: New Polish Cinema . Apr 30—May 6, 2021
FILM SERIES

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ALEC UTGOFF IN NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN

All films will screen April 30—May 6 on BAM's virtual streaming platform at BAM.org. Go here: https://www.bam.org/film/2021/kino-polska.

Further reviews/previews coming here

BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) brings together the best new works from Poland’s boundary-pushing filmmakers in this recurring series, including political thrillers, poignant family dramas, and four New York premieres.

From Friday, April 30 through Thursday, May 6 BAM presents the fourth edition of Kino Polska: New Polish Cinema, bringing together the best new works from Poland’s boundary-pushing filmmakers.

The series is presented in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York and co-programmed by Tomek Smolarski. Featuring seven feature films, Kino Polska includes four New York premieres: Poland’s Oscar submission NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN (2020); Bartosz Kruhlik’s edge-of-your-seat thriller SUPERNOVA (2019); Piotr Adamski’s EASTERN (2019), a tale of revenge set in a dystopic Poland; and Mariko Bobrik’s touching debut feature THE TASTE OF PHO (2019) about a Vietnamese father and daughter dealing with grief and the immigrant experience in Warsaw.

DESCRIPTIONS OF FILMS:

NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN director Malgorzata Szumowska (whose Berlinale prizewinner MUG screened in the 2018 iteration of Kino Polska) partners with longtime cinematographer and co-writer Michal Englert’s for this Venice Film Festival hit about an enigmatic healer (Alec Utgoff, "Stranger Things") who casts a spell over a rich Polish community. Kino Polska also includes the bittersweet coming-of-age drama I NEVER CRY (2020) from Piotr Domalewski; Mariusz Wilczynski’s deeply personal, hand-drawn animated film KILL IT AND LEAVE THIS TOWN (2020)—winner of the Grand Prize for Feature Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and a FIPRESCI Award at the 2020 Viennale; and Agnieszka Holland’s Soviet Union thriller MR. JONES (2019) starring James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, and Peter Sarsgaard.

KILL IT AND LEAVE THIS TOWN (Mariusz Wilczynski | 2020), 88min. Mariusz Wilczynski’s deeply personal, hand-drawn animated film—winner of the Grand Prize for Feature Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and a FIPRESCI Award at the 2020 Viennale—conjures a flood of emotions through surreal and striking images. Fleeing from despair after losing those dearest to him, the film's hero hides in a safe land of memories where time stands still and those dear to him are still alive. Over the years, a city grows in his imagination, filled with cartoon idols from his childhood, until the hero discovers that eternal youth does not exist and decides to journey back to the real world.

I NEVER CRY (Piotr Domalewski 2020) 98 min. With Zofia Stafiej, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Kinga Preis. Cineropa calls this a "moving drama, filled with black humor and empathy, that would make Ken Loach proud." In this New York premiere Piotr Domalewski follows up on his award-winning debut Silent Night with a darkly funny drama about a wayward seventeen-year-old, Ola, who suddenly becomes the head of her family after her estranged father dies abroad. She sets off to Ireland to bring his body back to Poland, but her main concern is whether or not he saved the money for a car he had promised her. Dealing with a foreign bureaucracy in her own streetwise way, Ola finally gets to know the father who had been largely absent in her life. A bittersweet coming-of-age story that explores the complexity of family bonds and economic emigration across Europe.

MR. JONES (Agnieszka Holland 2019). 119 mins. Based on a true story that helped inspire George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Agnieszka Holland’s biographical thriller sees Hitler’s rise to power and Stalin’s Soviet propaganda machine pushing their “utopia” to the Western world. An ambitious young journalist, Gareth Jones (Norton), travels to Moscow to uncover the truth behind the propaganda, where he gets a tip that leads him to discover has weaponized famine in Ukraine and caused massive death and uncovers the Stalin propaganda machine encompasses a Pulitzer prize journalist.

THE TASTE OF PHO (Mariko Bobrik 2019). 84 mins. ir. Dir. Mariko Bobrik | 2019, 84min Warsaw-based, Japanese-born filmmaker Mariko Bobrink shines a light on Poland’s Vietnamese population in this poignant drama about love, misunderstanding, and food. Long, a Vietnamese cook and long-time Warsaw resident, has built up a loyal following for his expertly-made pho, until the restaurant is sold to a new owner who wants to revamp the menu. The change exacerbates Long’s struggles to fit into European culture and the generational divide with his ten-year-old daughter, who has embraced Poland as her own.

EASTERN (Piotr Adamski 2019) 78 mins. Piotr Adamski’s feature debut offers a shocking alternative reality of Poland, where blood revenge is legal and rival clans live in a world of luxury and violent retribution. In this dystopian society regulated by an inexorable, patriarchal code, the Nowak and Kowalski families have been entangled in a vendetta for years. When the Nowaks’ son dies at the hand of a Kowalska, his sister must choose between carrying out revenge in the name of honour or fighting for her own life and freedom.

SUPERNOVA (Bartosz Kruhlik 2019) 78 mins. Three men, one place, and one event that will change each of their lives forever. Blending drama, thriller, and disaster cinema, Bartosz Kruhlik’s expertly-crafted debut zeros in on a rural town in crisis after a hit-and-run. As the impact of the crash ripples throughout the community, Supernova raises questions about the essence of chance and destiny, capturing the seemingly inexorable groundswell of anger among a group of people who see justice just beyond their reach.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.


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