Cold War

The first time I saw Cold War, I fell asleep halfway through it at AFI Fest 2018. That was my fourth film of the day, and I was extremely tired. I felt very bad, so I was very eager for when the film would be released to the public so that I could give it another try. Today is that day.

Well, after seeing it for a second time (and unfortunately being two to three minutes late), I actually think there was more than tiredness that caused me to fall asleep in the first screening. I truly think that Cold War is the epitome of what style over substance is. This film has such a bad plot, uninteresting characters, and a story that flashed through more than a decade in eighty-five minutes. Cold War tries to disguise its faults with spectacular black and white cinematography, a stunning vocal score, and a pretentious choice of a historical time period, but I was not fooled for one bit.

The plot was so thin that I could not even begin to describe how ridiculously simple, yet annoying it was:

"Man who is a musical director finds a female singer with incredible talent. He leads her to fame. One day they eye-flirt at a party. They bang pretty intensely. Then, one year goes by without talking to each other. They meet one day on the sidewalk. They both declare they have significant others. But, because of their erratic attraction for each other, they have intercourse again. And then they bang again and again. Then they go on tour. She gets more famous. Then, five years go by. After not speaking to each other, they meet each other yet again. They both declare they are married to other people. But because of their lustful nature, they BANG yet again. And again. Then they decide to drop their husband/wife and become a couple. They start to fight. Then they bang to make up. Then she gets mad at him. Then she slaps him. Then seven years go by. They bang. Then, they get married. The end."

In other words, the plot of this film revolves around two people whose love affair can be simplified as "hey baby, let's get it on." There is hardly any dialogue between them that is romantically sincere. It is all just sexual or boring exposition. I felt nothing for these two people. And I really didn't care.

For all you love it to death, good for you. But I prefer films with better developed characters at the expense of extremely pretentious cinematography. How about the Before Trilogy that isn't beautifully shot by any means, but the characters are excellently portrayed.

All in all, I wish this film was better than the camera thinks it is.

I must admit that the movie is not bad. The black and white color style creates a romantic and nostalgic atmoshere, during the era of the beginning of the cold war. There are some impressive and well-played scenes (and that is something the director must be praised for, his visual aesthetic), especially in the beginning of the movie, showing the life in Poland after the war and the folkore culture. The perfume and sense of old times and the illustration of another era are so clear. This is the good side of the movie, that reminds us something of the old romantic movies. On the other hand, a movie that could simply be a masterpiece, it just ends to be "nothing special". The main reason is that, although it considers to be a love-film, love is not clearly illustrated. The spectator cannot really understand why their love is so strong, why these people are so stuck to its other. They continue to move all the time and make love and argue, while there is not enough "heaviness" to their relationship. It becomes boring at some point, just to watch people go around and argue and love each other without a reason. In cocnlusion, while I liked the way that the director presents the capitalist world, giving emphasis to the differences between the east and the west ethics and culture, I didn't like the way of presentation of the communist side, because he concentrates only to authority, power, jails and no freedom at all. The movie just left me with a sense, that I was expecting something more.

A musician and his muse carry out an on-again-off-again romance in the two decades following WWII.

"Cold War" left me feeling like my lack of understanding about Poland and post-war Polish identity prevented me from fully appreciating this movie. The whole time I was watching it, I felt like there was something I was missing. But I have to judge a movie based on my personal reaction to it, and this one left me cold. The two leads have little chemistry, and the movie doesn't make a compelling case that these two damaged souls can't live without each other. We're just told they can't, but we're never shown. Because I didn't care about their relationship, and I didn't much care for them as individuals (we never learn very much about either of them), I never felt vested in anything happening and I couldn't care less about whether they ended up together, apart, alive, or dead.

The film has some rapturous followers, so I'll have to just live with the fact that I missed the boat on this one.

Nominated for three Oscars at the upcoming 2018 Academy Awards: Best Foreign Language Film (Poland), Best Director (Pawel Pawlikowski), and Best Cinematography.

Grade: B-

"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")

It took me almost a year to rewatch Cold War, not for lack of want, but for how hard film was to revisit. The pain, torment and anguish is very tangible, and despite the fact the key characters keep making terrible mistakes that lead them into worse and worse positions, I can't help but feel I would make the same steps. What else do you do when you can't stand each other, but you can't stand to be apart from each other? Is this love? Or is love a concept mislabeled, propelled by films like this that seem to glorify harmful and destructive relationships by malicious and foolish people?

Shot in sumptuous black and white, with a stunning soundtrack and stellar performances, Cold War is not a romance film, but rather a tragedy. You know the end when you start, but you drag yourself through the mud to reanalyse every single painful detail. A film that never answers any questions, but lets you resonate with the relationship, actions and consequences of these ill pared, out of sync lovers. Oh oh oh.