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In the 1930s, the Polish port city of Gdynia became a brief landing pad for immigrants from neighboring countries, including Jews who sought safety and prosperity before the rise of Nazi Germany. Though the Museum of Gdynia quietly explains this messy history, obvious markers of that past aren’t visible across the city. Its marina boasts a massive monument to 18th-century Polish military hero Tadeusz Kościuszko, whose actions became the stuff of legend both for the Poles and the Americans, but otherwise Gdynia stands anew, with sparkling metallic structures surrounding its stretch of the Puck Bay and the Polanka Redłowska forest.

By contrast, in the nearby town of Gdańsk, with its brightly colored and narrow buildings that hug a labyrinthine waterway, the markers of history are more immediately apparent to the naked eye. Much of the buildings have been reconstructed such that nearly every street teems with homages to the past.

The New York Film Festival opened its 2008 edition Friday night with a screening of French director Laurent Cantet's "The Class" and a blowout at Tavern on the Green.

Now it's down to the serious task of watching movies. Trying to decide which to see can be daunting, so please allow me to recommend three.

"Four Nights With Anna" (2008) is the first film in 17 years by respected Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski. It concerns Leon (Artur Steranko), a weird crematory worker in a dreary village,...