Mój Nikifor

I have never known the existence of the late Polish/Ukrainian naïve painter Nikifor (Epifaniusz Drowniak/Nikifor Krynicki/Nykyfor) until I saw this biographical movie of his. Interesting enough he immediately reminds me of a local Hong Kong artist whose head is totally chaotic and behaves in bizarre manner. His trademark claim is that he is Hong Kong's "Kowloon Emperor", that's Tsang Tsou-choi, the world's oldest graffiti calligraphy artist (works in Chinese characters), well, much earlier than New York's Keith Haring but the latter makes tons of $$$. (By the way, Emperor Tsang is now on the official list of "Hong Kong identity symbols to be protected". One piece of wood he painted sold for US$1,100.) I even can't help thinking about Vincent Van Gogh, David Helfgott or UK's Banksy (though no proof of his insanity, yet), artists who are either physically or mentally-challenged. The life of the said names tell us many tears-in-bitter-joy stories that true art, no matter how late, will be discovered and appreciated by the world.

What catches my attention is not the art of Nikifor, (to be frank, I have to confess that I need time to understand/digest his art) but Marian Wlosinski. How can he take that: the disillusionment of going to Krakow, the shattered future as an artist, the warning from his authority, the departure of his wife and two daughters… Why does he still insist on helping? How come his eyes see so differently from the others while no one cares about the frail old chap or his art? There is something about him that we can look into.

Just like other films depicting lives of artists, this warm and direct storytelling offers no shocking food for our sensory cells but one, at least to me, Nikifor is interpreted by an actress! Krystyna Feldman accepts this role and tested the audience's response by disguising as a beggar soliciting money at the spa! Well, she is as freaky as the role itself. Queerly coincidentally, she shares the same birth year of our Kowloon Emperor. Well, no matter how old you are, you can have your eccentric fun as much as you want to.

I can only imagine that this movie is funny or touching to those who know the artist. I did not, however, and found the movie greatly lacking content, depth... and art.

What we see is only the very last part of Nikifor's life. We do not see his youth, how he got to be an artist, who inspired him, how he worked, nothing at all, no background is given. We hardly see any of his work, except during the closing credits. The actress depicting Nikofor makes him look surly, unlikeable and even dim-witted at times, and she does so with over the top acting, as if she is mainly focused on playing a male role instead of playing the artist.

Yes, this movie has won awards. But I can't imagine why. We get no insight into the character of Nikifor at all, and thus, it was a waste of my time.

Nikifor was given birth in the stables, by his deaf and mute mother. He had a twin sister, which later has frozen to death. Local Nikifor has inherited his mother's disability by having his tongue-tied to a palate (ankyloglossia), which made him unable to articulate and produce understandable speech, and was partially deaf. He was also illiterate. Various people have given him shelter, he had no birth certificate. From a legal point of view... he simply did not exist. He was raised and lived in an isolation from society, it's standards, and people, who poked fun at a miserable creature. Screen writer, Joanna Kos, in an interview in Gazeta Wyborcza admitted that film should be viewed as a study on humanity, and likened the story to this of an Elijah prophet.

MY NIKOFOR, Poland, 2004.

Director Krzysztof Krauze, starring Krystyna Feldman image1.jpeg

Viewed at the 2004 Valladolid Film Festival, this film recounts the last eight years of the strange life of Nikifor Krynicki, famous Polish unschooled vagabond "naive artist".

The festival's Best Actress award went to veteran Polish actress Krystyna Feldman for her amazing portrayal, at her current age of 85, of an illiterate, homeless old man, Nikofor, who was also a naive self-taught painter of genius in XXth century Poland. Since the death of Kieslowski nearly a decade ago Polish films have been painfully absent from the major festival scene, however, this film entitled "My Nikofor" by Krzystof Krause may signal the beginning of a new Polish wave which has been building for some time, but is still waiting for a push in the right direction. This bio-pic of the homeless artist who died in 1968 and whose genius was only recognized at the very end of his strange undocumented life (he didn't even have a birth certificate and nobody knew his real name for sure) is clearly a labor of love set in the wintry mountains of Krynica Spa in South Poland, where the artist lived most of his life, and filmed, according to director Krauze, whenever possible from the angle of a Nikofor painting. Having a woman play the role of this man was an unusual directorial decision, to say the least, but totally validated by actress Feldman's uncannily accurate performance - - a tour de force that turned out to be the capstone of her long career. To get into the role, dressed for the part, the actress actually went begging for food at the Krynica museum and people complained to the police about this "stinking old man"!

Krystyna Feldman was a busy actress in Polish films and TV series for six decades and kept working right up to the end of her long life. She passed away in 2007 at the age of 90.

I was lucky in I was an admirer of Nikifor and in the mid 90's visited Krynica and the Nikifor Museum. I suspect the film echoes modern sentiment of his life and work, since in the town there was not the enthusiasm for his fame and the museum was somewhat lacking in content. However from the film I immediately remembered the town and its simple beauty, and spent an enjoyable week there. The film it is rather slow but does keep up a momentum; and shows how difficult the artist was to deal with by a bureaucratic society beset with vestiges of their own self importance, while having to openly acknowledge the status of a man previously held in ridicule. The acting is very fine, right down to the humanity of the two little girls, and there are significant small cameo shots such as the later dialogue in the scene in the town café which is typically Polish. Filming is also excellent. A memorable yet understated film.