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Spoor (Pokot) Samuel Goldwyn Films Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Agnieszka Holland Writer: Olga Tokarczuk, Agnieszka Holland, adapted from Olga Takorczuk’s novel Cast: Agnieszka Mandat, Wiktor Zborowski, Miroslav Krobot, Jakub Gierszal, Patricia Volny, Tomasz Kot Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 1/6/21 Opens: January 22, 2021 The difference […]

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Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Agnieszka Holland's Spoor, which is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, is showing from September 11 – October 10, 2019 in Mubi's Luminaries series.Near the end of Spoor, Agnieszka Holland’s 2017 Silver Bear-winning feature, a jittery woman recalls a local legend that used to frighten her as a child. The story of the Night Hunter, a spirit in pursuit of evil people, becomes a parable for the entire film as a whole folkloric act of justice, when members of the small Polish town’s hunting party disappear under mysterious circumstances. Melding its whodunit narrative with uncanny suspects, the film takes a critical stance on the human-animal relationship. Through an unsettling portrayal of hunting rituals intertwined with murder mystery, Spoor questions pre-supposed hierarchical structures, be it that of man over woman, or of human over animal. Despite being drawn up...

It’s beginning to look a lot like fall festival season. On the heels of announcements from Tiff and Venice, the 55th edition of the New York Film Festival has unveiled its Main Slate, including a number of returning faces, emerging talents, and some of the most anticipated films from the festival circuit this year.

This year’s Main Slate showcases a number of films honored at Cannes including Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or–winner “The Square,” Robin Campillo’s “Bpm,” and Agnès Varda & Jr’s “Faces Places.” Other Cannes standouts, including “The Rider” and “The Florida Project,” will also screen at Nyff.

Read MoreTIFF Reveals First Slate of 2017 Titles, Including ‘The Shape of Water,’ ‘Downsizing,’ and ‘Call Me By Your Name’

Elsewhere, Aki Kaurismäki’s Silver Bear–winner “The Other Side of Hope” and Agnieszka Holland’s Alfred Bauer Prize–winner “Spoor” come to Nyff after Berlin bows.

Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, with more than 20 feature films and dozens of television episodes on her CV, has said that her latest film Spoor should be called 'No Country for Old Women'. While I understand the analogy, with much due respect to her, I beg to differ. Instead, I would call it 'Every Country for Old Women', as we need more of her wonderful main character, and indeed, more of Holland's perspective, in our lives. Part thriller, part magical realism, Spoor weaves a strange tale, hiding a beast of a heart under its seemingly straightforward murder-mystery story.  Duszejko (played with complete conviction and ferocity by Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka) is a retired engineer and part-time schoolteacher, living in a small town on the Polish-Czech border. A great lover...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The worst choices for festival competition aren’t necessarily the worst films. Those which aim too high, go too far, try too hard often end up making a complete fool of themselves. But even spectacular failures could make for challenging, rewarding experiences, and more readily justify their presence at a platform meant to celebrate groundbreakers than movies that are just, thoroughly if inoffensively, unremarkable. Spoor, which marks Polish wrier-director Agnieszka Holland’s return to feature filmmaking after her Oscar-nominated Holocaust drama In Darkness, is sadly such an uninspired dud. Nothing about it screams gross ineptitude, but the universal below-averageness proves grating.

Set in a remote village surrounded by flora and fauna where at any minute wild hogs can stroll into your garden unannounced, the film stars Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka as retired part-time English teacher Janina. Although she obviously stays in a lot, Janina seems quite beloved by her young students, fellow townsmen,...

Vegetarian vengeance! I don't even know how to begin to describe how much I loved this film. Spoor, also known as Pokot originally, is a film from Poland about an elderly former teacher who lives in a small town. She loves her two adorable dogs, but one day they go missing, and thus begins this thrilling story of animal lover vengeance. The cinematography in this film is Stunning, some of the best since The Revenant, and I really mean that. Along with an incredibly unique score from Antoni Lazarkiewicz, and exceptional lead performance by Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka, this won't be a film you forget. And that isn't even the half of it - there's so much I loved, and even if I can't describe it all perfectly, I hope my enthusiasm is apparent. Written and directed by veteran Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland (who has an immense amount of skill as a...

Eagle-eyed viewers better versed in the Polish language will have to scour the end credits of Agnieszka Holland’s “Spoor” to find out if any animals were actually harmed in the making of this feisty, genre-bending film. Though far from perfect, this one part revenge thriller, one part eco-reverie, tied together with sumptuous visual brio, is the “John Wick”/ “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring” mash-up you never knew you always wanted.

See MoreThe 2017 IndieWire Berlinale Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During the Festival

A note about the filmmaker first: Holland has one of the more interesting careers in international cinema, directing period dramas in French, Czech and Polish for the Euro-art-house circuit, while at the same time working steadily as a hired gun on prestige American series. Having spent the past several years working with NBC, HBO and Netflix, Holland clearly relishes her return to the feature filmmaking,...

Agnieszka Holland’s new film is a mix of forensic crime story and magical realist fairy tale that, adapted from Olga Tokarczuk’s novel, doesn’t always hang together

Agnieszka Holland, renowned Polish director of works including Europa, Europa, is back with a new film taking us on an eco-fabulist murder mystery tour deep into the central European forest, starring a beautiful ageing woman with a long grey hair and a passing resemblance to Angela Carter.

She is the eccentric Janina Duszejko (Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka) a part-time teacher and full-time mystic living alone in a village on the Polish-Czech border, loved by her young pupils but hated by the boorish menfolk thereabouts for her passionate hatred of their hunting and animal slaughter; she will disrupt shooting parties, screaming and crying, and often makes angry complaints to the lazy uncaring police when animals are killed out of season.

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The 2017 Berlin Film Festival has revealed its first slate of 14 films for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections, including new work from Aki Kaurismaki (“The Man Without a Past”), Oren Moverman (“Time Out of Mind”) and Sally Potter (“Ginger & Rosa”). The festival will also screen a restored version of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1972 TV series “Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day.”

Read More: The 2016 Indiewire Berlin International Film Festival Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During Run of Festival

So far, ten films have been invited to screen in Competition, and four films have been selected for Berlinale Special. These productions and co-productions are from the United State, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Belgium, Poland, Senegal and more.

The 67th Berlin International Film Festival will run from February 9 through 19. Further films will be revealed in the coming weeks. For more information, visit the official website.

Read More: The...

After Sundance Film Festival concludes in late January, the next big cinematic event on the globe is the Berlin International Film Festival. With Paul Verhoeven serving as jury president for the 67th edition of the festival, they’ve now announced their first line-up of titles, including Aki Kaurismäki‘s The Other Side of Hope (pictured above), Oren Moverman‘s Richard Gere-led The Dinner, Sally Potter‘s The Party (pictured below), and Agnieszka Holland‘s Spoor, as well as a restoration of a Rainer Werner Fassbinder TV show.

Check out the first titles below, and return for our coverage from the festival.

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul)

Hungary

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour

Romania/Germany/France

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti,...

Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Sally Potter among Competition lineup.

The first 14 films have been announced for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Among directors with movies in competition are Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Andres Veiel, Sebastián Lelio and Sally Potter.

Festival veteran Kaurismäki will debut new film The Other Side Of Hope about a Finnish travelling salesman who meets a Syrian refugee.

Moverman’s (The Messenger) mystery-drama The Dinner stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny. Based on the novel by Herman Koch, the film looks at at how far parents will go to protect their children.

Oscar-nominated Holland, who was nominated for the Golden Bear in 1981, will be at the Berlinale with crime-drama Pokot.

Potter returns to Berlin with ensemble comedy-drama The Party starring Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas and [link...

Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Sally Potter among competition lineup.

The first 14 films have been announced for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Among directors with movies in competition are Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Andres Veiel, Sebastián Lelio and Sally Potter.

Moverman’s (The Messenger) mystery-drama The Dinner stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny.

Fernando Trueba’s comedy-drama The Queen of Spain, starring Penelope Cruz, will get its international premiere in the Berlinale Special strand.

More to follow…

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul) (Hungary)

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour (Romania / Germany / France)

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti, Carmen Tănase, Adrian Titieni, Vlad Ivanov

World premiere

Beuys - Documentary (Germany)

By Andres Veiel ([link...

Game Count

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Writers: Agnieszka Holland, Olga Tokarczuk

Polish auteur Agnieszka Holland, once the protégé of Krzysztof Zanussi, is still best remembered for early 90s titles such as Europa Europa (1990) and her Arthur Rimbaud biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Total Eclipse (1993). Her last feature was 2011’s In Darkness, nominated for Best Foreign Language film that year, and she’s been steadily working in television, from the superb mini-series “Burning Bush,” to English language items such as episodes of “House of Cards,” and the t.v. treatment of “Rosemary’s Baby.” She’s been attempting to adapt famed Polish novelist Olga Tokarzuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead for several years, and phases of filmmaking have commenced on her adaptation, known as Game Count and co-written by Tokarzuk. Filming is supposed to wrap in late 2015/early 2016 on what’s described as a crime thriller with comedic...