Most films will be screened in Alumni Hall, 7th Floor Theater. "The Body" (2.25) and "Keep Away from the Window" (2.26) will be shown in the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater, 4400 Fifth Avenue."
Receptions follow all Sunday showings and after "Superproduction" (2.19). The public is cordially invited.All films are unrated as to content. One may expect a moderate amount of adult content and language, but nothing excessive.
Pornografia/ Pornografia
The Weather for Tomorrow / Pogoda na jutro
Superproduction / SuperprodukcjaYanek Drzazga (Rafal Królikowski) is full of himself as a film critic: he tears apart terrible movies and makes their directors cry; he fantasizes about his co-workers furiously applauding his entrance; he states categorically that today's Polish films are garbage, about nothing real or true. Soon his assertions, as well as his mettle, are put to the test. A wealthy mobster, “CEO” Jedrzej Koniecpolski (“end of Poland”) entraps him, blackmails him and threatens him with bodily harm unless he writes the screenplay for a new film, to star the mobster's beautiful but talentless girlfriend, Donata (Anna Przybylska). Forced to agree, but completely out of his depth, Yanek struggles to make a film in the capitalist-run system that seems to rely on graft, lies, and personal connections rather than on any talent or artistic aspiration. He directs the film amidst a hilarious, farcical mix of mobsters, Security Service agents, sexual intrigue, fantasies about Oscars, and a dense network of references to Polish and world cinema. Fortunately, his mother is always there to make him his favorite pudding.
Review of "Superprodukcja".
The Revenge / ZemstaThe scene is an ancient, dilapidated castle which, despite its ramshackle appearance, is the object of a bitter feud between the Cupbearer Raptusiewicz and the Notary Milczek. The Cupbearer, whose temper is fiery and whose first impulse is to reach for his saber, is in love with the thrice-widowed Hanna Podstolina, who lives in his household along with his niece Klara. Klara is, of course, in love with the Notary's son, Waclaw, and he loves her. The young couple strains to find a way to be together, amidst the plotting of their elders. Podstolina accepts the Cupbearer's proposal of marriage, only to run away to the Notary's side of the castle when he promises to marry her to Waclaw, an old flame of hers. The Cupbearer, enraged by having been outmaneuvered, arranges to have Waclaw kidnapped, intending to force him to marry Klara instead of the widow, simply to frustrate the Notary. Naturally the young people happily consent, and seemingly their love conquers the petty rivalry between the two excitable noblemen. Sprinkled throughout the action is Papkin, an absurd clown full of braggadocio and inventions, whose hapless role in the intrigues is primarily one of court jester. The plot of the tale, time-honored and well-known, is nevertheless made new and fresh by Fredro's verbal wit and flawless poetry.
Review of "The Revenge".
The Body / Cialo
This rollicking romp of a film follows the post-mortem adventures of Wolter (Rafal Krolikowski), the eponymous corpse that won't go quietly into that good night. Winding through the non-linear narrative, Wolter's body passes through many hands: from his own friends, to petty, bumbling thieves, to a hitwoman-for-hire and her granddaughter, to a Siamese-twin crime boss, to a woman and the husband she wants killed, to a pair of nuns, to many other assorted characters along the way. Wolter's body intrudes on the lives and small dramas of many varied lives, with consistently hilarious and absurd results. The synchronicity of these many unrelated vignettes offers a hunt for the connections between the multiple plot lines, and the Monty-Pythonesque humor provides plenty of laughs.
Keep Away from the Window / Daleko od oknaJan and Basia are a happy young couple, seemingly unaffected by the pressures of the Nazi Occupation of Poland. Until, that is, Jan is called to paint over bloodstains on a wall. He brings home an unknown young Jewish woman, Regina, and installs her in his home. She must be hidden (in the inevitable wardrobe), but inevitable tensions arise from the close quarters, from sexual tension between host and guest, and from Basia's unfulfilled desires to have a baby. Regina's pregnancy gives Basia what she wants most, even as it sends the trio into a downward spiral of hostility, hatred, and betrayal. The daughter, Helusia, is raised as Jan and Basia's daughter, even after the war, as Regina has survived and has emigrated to Germany. A tale of the consequences of selfish and unselfish decisions alike, the film examines the personal fallout of rescue and survival.
Review of "Keep Away from the Window"
Sour Soup / ZurekSummary: Halina (Katarzyna Figura), a youngish widow, tramps around a small Polish border town in search of the father of her infant grandson, a man her mentally-challenged fifteen-year-old daughter Iwonka (Natalia Rybicka) refuses to name. As the women confront and accuse man after man in an effort to find the father, in order to name the child and christen him before the holidays are over, as she promised her late husband, Halina must deal with her own widowed status (her husband committed suicide by throwing himself under a train) and the increasingly clear indications that her daughter has had multiple relations with men. Her own troubled situation, as she works constantly to provide now for two dependents, is made the more touching by her own longing for intimacy, some love of her own. By pressing her quest to the end, Halina is forced to confront a horrible truth about her family, leaving her even more shaken and alone than she was at the beginning. Out of the abyss of her despair and hopelessness, however, emerges a bittersweet "happy ending."
Full review of Zurek. Don't read if you don't want to know the ending.