Ja gore! / I Am Burning 1967. Part of TV anthology: Opowiesci Niezwykle (The Amazing Stories). Written and directed by Janusz Majewski. Based on Henryk Rzewuski’s short story.HDTVRip 720p (TVP1 HD broadcast).
Awards: Brazowy Lajkonik in the feature film category at the Cracow Short Feature Festival, 1968.Read More »
It features a young man and a lady friend driving to an insane asylum whose overseers the woman knows. Weirdness is evident before they even reach the place, in the form of a ranting maniac in a tree. More crazies are found freely wandering the grounds of the asylum, they being participants in an apparently revolutionary new system instituted by the asylum’s director. But the director seems just as nutty in his own way as the patients, and it turns out there’s a good reason for this: he is one of the patients, having taken over the asylum and locked up its overseers.Read More »
Janusz Majewski is one of Poland’s most durable and prolific filmmakers. In a career that spans half a century Majewski has directed a variety of films, with comedies and period pieces predominating. He also made LOKIS, one of Poland’s most famous horror features, and a wealth of horror-themed shorts that comprise a significant body of work in their own right. In fact, I’d argue that Majewski can be counted as the foremost director of Polish horror movies (his only real competition in this regard are his fellow countrymen Roman Polanski, Jerzy Skolimowski and Andrzej Zulawski, all of whom have made the majority of their films outside Poland).Read More »
Wenus z Ille / Venus of Ille (1967). Part of unofficial TV anthology: Opowiesci Niesamowite (It is the second season of The Amazing Stories – Opowiesci Niezwykle. Written and directed by Janusz Majewski. Based on Prosper Merimee’s short story (Merimee is also the author of Blekitny Pokoj AKA The Ble Room – Majewski TV adaption, 1965; and Lokis which was later adapted by Majewski into a feature film, 1970).TVRip (TVP Kultura broadcast).Read More »
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One has to just think of a great film featuring a war and a train would automatically come to mind. While Czech cinema gave its immortal classic, ‘Closely watched trains’ directed by the legendary director Jiri Menzel to the admirers of cinema, Polish cinema also had its fair share of films depicting war where trains have played a major role. ‘Ludzie Z Pociagu’/’People on a train’ is one brilliant example of a war film featuring innocent people whose lives depended a lot on the running of a train. In this film, director Kazimierz Kutz depicts how an act of heroism involving the seizure of a gun is responsible in allowing the viewers to get a better idea of the microcosm of Polish society. Read More »
In 1960 Kazimierz Kutz’ second film NIKT NIE WOLA / NOBODY’S CALLING, based on a Jozef Hen novel that was never published in Poland, described the fate of Poles on the Eastern Front. Kutz used the film to explore new formal solutions, collaborating closely with cinematographer Jerzy Wojcik to reveal the psychological landscape of a pair of lovers who are strongly affected by wartime events. The camera recorded the couple’s inner experiences, contrasting their muted intimacy against the surrounding scenery of a ruined town. The film did not win over critics at the time of its release. It was not until later that critics recognized Kutz’s effort to experiment with aesthetics in a manner akin to that pursued by filmmakers of the new wave. NOBODY’S CALLING came to be compared with Michelangelo Antonioni’s THE ADVENTURE, which was produced around the same time.Read More »
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A young boy is sent to a boarding school run by an eccentric scientist/magician. He befriends a talking bird named Matt and is told how it lost its human form, Matt was once a boy prince. Touched by the story, our young hero vows to help his feathered friend regain his true identity. The fairytale is based on the eternal conflict between Good and Evil. Good symbolised by Mr Blot means benevolence, understanding of different people and nature. Evil symbolised by Alois Bubble means egotism and thirst for power. But above all Mr Blot’s Academy is always full of fun and humour.Read More »
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A drama about unfulfilled love (screenplay by Kazimierz Brandys based on his own short story). The film is for the most part the reminiscence of a radio actress named Felicja, who thinks back to the World War II occupation of Poland by Germany, when she hid a man (Wiktor) sought by the Gestapo in her apartment for a prolonged period. In order to remove suspicion from herself, she began to appear on stage, which rendered her a collaborator in the eyes of her peers from the acting community. Felicja made this sacrifice for Wiktor because she loved him and in spite of her love being unreturned. On the other hand, Wiktor perceives her sacrifice as a burden though Felicja does not notice this.Read More »
Mr Ambrosio Inkblot created an Academy where he teaches 24 boys – whose names always start with the letter ‘A’. The building of academy is situated at Chocolate street and is surrounded by huge forest with the wall featuring gates to other fairy-tales. Mr Inkblot teaches the boys with the help of a mysterious starling bird – Matthew – who used to be a boy. But Kleks’ Academy is not a typical school – Mr Inkblot (played by Piotr Fronczewski) interprets dreams, his students throw ink during lessons and talk to heroes of other fairy-tales.Read More »