Guerra fría

From the Academy Award-winning director of Ida comes another cold, stark & emotionally distant feature, this time centred around a couple that can neither stay together nor live apart. Taking inspiration from his own parents' turbulent history, Pawel Pawlikowski's latest is a tale of cursed love in cursed times.

Set in the ruins of post-war Europe, the story concerns a musical director who discovers a young singer and helps her refine her talent. The plot follows their romance over the years as their different backgrounds, varying temperaments & politics of the era keep separating them apart & bringing them back together.

Co-written & directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, the film definitely benefits from its splendid camerawork & wonderful music but the romance aspect is both stale & soulless. Watching the same episode repeated time n again in different places & years gets old & boring real soon, plus we never even grow to care about them.

The two lovebirds have no individual lives of their own. The story never digs into that aspect, for it only shows us the segments that brings them together before driving them apart again. And the repetitive nature of it makes sure that we are never invested in them or their relationship or the troubles they find themselves in over the years.

Difficulties of living in exile or under totalitarian regime are only glimpsed at but never explored. Joanna Kulig & Tomasz Kot do well with what they are given and while their work looks impressive, it doesn't truly resonate on an emotional level. It's a good thing that the film is only 85 minutes long and ends before it becomes an ordeal to sit through.

On an overall scale, Cold War is beautiful to look at but its story doesn't stimulate the senses the way its arresting imagery does. The frame composition, greyscale photography, crisp camerawork and excellent musical choices actually turned out to be its saving grace, for without them, this Polish drama would be no less than an absolute chore. In a word, underwhelming.

Well, first off, the cinematography was not underrated. It is incredibly beautiful in a way that American Filmmakers have almost seemed to forget. We live in an era of cinema where color and computer graphics are our main tools for communicating at the theater. We want bigger (IMAX), louder/immersive (Atmos), and flashy/bright/color epileptic seizure inducing displays of digital fireworks.

Don't get me wrong. I love a movie that blends those things effectively, but there is a simple beauty to a black and white, 4x3 frame. The main thing I see in this sort of film is light. With no color to distract you, the emphasis of the film revolves around areas of light and dark.

The diffuse soft light of the cold air in winter and a stand of trees gains a mystical quality sometimes as the snow which clings to the dark trunks of trees seems to disappear into the distant fog. The hard light of a night club is seen for what it is, small sliver of light in a darkness that people long to disappear into and can't seem but help to be consumed by.

"Cold War" uses this light effectively as neither the star of the show nor a simple utilitarian instrument. It communicates an emotion that can't be portrayed through acting or production design alone.

The story is a classic one. A couple, torn apart by the love that binds them together and the forces of the world which conspire to keep them apart. Honestly, it's the main weakness of the film. I don't begrudge it that hard though. It was made by a Polish director and this is his own country's history and I'm sure there is a reason that that the war torn romance is a classic of literature and cinema. People identify with it.

In "Cold War," Zula is a young woman trying out for a Polish Heritage singing and dancing troupe. Wiktor is the director and, upon her first audition, he is intrigued by her. As they work together the troupe gains popularity till the state expresses interest in sponsoring the show. Wiktor doesn't like the control that the state is exerting over his art so he plots with Zula to escape Communist rule through Berlin.

They agree, but Zula gets cold feet and doesn't meet him at the rendezvous, opting instead to stay in Poland. The rest of the film revolves around a romance that only finds expression in passing as her career eventually takes her out of Poland and the the two of them reconnect and struggle with life abroad.

"Cold War" isn't a film for everyone. It's a little slow and reserved. The passion of their love is very muted, seeming more like passing interest at times than a fiery love affair and that makes it hard to connect with the characters at times.

Slow Cinema is seeing a bit of a resurgence right now, though, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to check out a highly acclaimed movie which exemplifies this style without falling into the trap of a 3 hour runtime as many slow cinema films do.

At a tight hour and a half, there are few people who can't afford to see something a little outside of their comfort zone. I certainly enjoyed it and more so even as I think about the film and the themes it presents once I left the theater.

This is another case of style over content. The look of this film is stunning , deliberately reminiscent of the European films of the 50'sand 60's however there is no substance to the story. The script jumps years and places so many times that we never care enough about the main characters and their love story which is the main focus of the film (some would say only focus) as the major political changes that took place during this period are kept so far in the background that they seem insignificant and ultimately irrelevant.The jazz sequences in a Paris cafe only seem to be included to show some great smoky black and white photography rather than to move the plot forward. I appreciate that this is a very personal story for the director but in the transition to the screen he has lost the tragedy and emotion that he wanted to convey to audiences... and what could have been a great film is only 'quite good'.

"Cold War" is an overrated romance with magnificent cinematography and chemistry of the lead couple. Unfortunately the storyline of two lovers incapable to be together or distant from each other is not attractive despite some good moments. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Guerra Fria" ("Cold War")

The first thing to state about this beautiful movie is that it's monochrome. So stunningly so that at times you feel you are in a photographic gallery rather than a cinema. The quality of the cinematography is quite extraordinary thanks to Lucas Zal.

It's also in 4:3 format. Not the square format of Instagram, but close.

We don't see 4:3 very often these days but Wes Anderson used it to immense effect in Grand Budapest Hotel and so did Lazslo Melis in Son of Saul.

It's an engaging format that draws you in. It suggests a time before cinemascope (16:9 etc) and only really works in period cinema of a time.

This time.

But it also lends itself to incredible framing, such as when our female protagonist floats down a river gradually disappearing out of shot, and later in the movie when the chief protagonists leave a bus and walk out of frame in a composition that Henri Cartier Breson would be proud of.

It's one of the most beautiful movies I've seen in many years.

In truth that's probably its biggest strength.

It is, but it isn't really, narrative driven. More episodic than story driven but it does tell a tale about director Pawel Pawlikowski's parents' love affair set against the Cold War backdrop in his native Poland.

It's fairly sordid in a way (his mother was abused by her father as a child) but without anything shocking to see.

Imagine, yes.

The two leads ( Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot) are magnificent. Brooding, beautiful (although unconventionally so) and real.

Lucas Zal has a great time dwelling on three particular things. Crowd shots. Amazing, Dance sequences. Amazing. Joanna Kulig (the lead). Amazing.

In particular, Joanna Kulig has a stand out performance. She's not one to show her enjoyment in life. Sullen most would say. But it is an immense performance.

It's a love story, set against the challenges that Cold War Poland put in front of people of artistic belief where communist doctrine made creativity very difficult.

What Pawel Pawlikowski achieves is a mood piece of exemplary, peerless really, detail.

And it's a musical.

I was constantly drawn to comparing it to La La Land, yet it is so NOT La La Land. Partly it's down to Kulig who shares the unorthodox looks (beauty) of Emma Stone. Partly it's the framing of Zal.

And the music fuses from Polish country folk to French basement jazz (which La La Land would have been so comfortable with).

This is an Oscar nomination shoe in. It's absolutely brilliant.

And, at 88 minutes, certainly does not outstay its welcome.

Bravo!

A Straight 10 from me.