La communion

This film could easily slide into an anecdote about a disguise that causes real change. However, it is a perfectly told film that asks important questions about the place of spirituality in a person's life, and about the chance to make amends. Contrary to being embedded in the reality of the Catholic Church in Poland, it is a universal challenge for viewers who are not afraid to check whether a bad person can do good things and what is the value of spiritual transformation committed for low motives. Greatly played by a couple of young, yet experienced actors Eliza Rycembel and Bartosz Bielenia, while the rest of the cast creates a perfect background for the small-town world, which, although on the outskirts, is not a province.

I saw this movie as part of the PSIFF. There were 2 movie houses packed for this performance. The story is detailed in the preview. I felt that the writing, and the performances made it one of the best films in the festival. At the end of the screening the audience were clearly awestruck. The message about the real reason for believe, not in a religion, but the power of people was uplifting. I know that some might find the story anti-Catholic, but if I met someone that was a committed to being a good person as Daniel I would be at his services.

... that's for sure, but some are more forgiven for their immoralities than others, regardless of their affect and intent. Many stones thrown in this intense and emotional story of deceit from Poland that will exercise your own moral compass on the actions of the unrighteous.

Peter is a man with serious character defects who has been released from a juvenile facility. He finds himself at a small town Catholic church where he dons a priest's collar and becomes a beloved charismatic leading his adoring flock. The Polish Peyton Place slowly reveals its' secrets as the good "father" hears confessions from the flock and performs masses with inspiring homily's. As a lapsed Catholic, I found the film very realistic and sentimental. The lead actor is excellent and I would place it just behind "Parasite" as the best foreign language movie of 2019.

Always disturbing but also worrying and even intermittently amusing, this drama unfurls a religious parabola that is distinctly Polish but open to everyone. Bartosz Bielenia, an actor with blazing blue eyes and the ability to be so still, it's as if he can freeze the frame on his own, stars like Daniel, a young ne'er from Warsaw who is in juvenile detention for crimes only later revealed. He was first seen watching the gate as some teenagers in a metalwork class brutalize a boy while the guard is out, but sheer luck opens another door for him. Drawn to religion but not allowed to join a seminary due to his criminal record, he travels to a rural town once he has been paroled in a sawmill to take up work. A little gray lie allows him to take the identity of the young new priest, Tomasz, that the city expects, and soon Daniel will perform mass and hear confessions, while the old resident curate will drip out in rehabilitation for a while. Around this midpoint, the movie risks sounding like an episode of Father Ted as directed by Robert Bresson, as Daniel / Tomasz gets used to being looked after by bossy matron Lidia (Aleksandra Konieczna) in luxurious new digs and gets to know the city folk. The plot takes an interesting turn when Daniel learns that the family has been traumatized by a horrific road accident and discovers an uncommon pastoral ability when he tries to help restore the battered psyches of the bereaved-many of them barely younger than himself, including the pretty teenage daughter of Lidia, Eliza (Eliza Rycembel). All the above may lead you to expect some sort of soppy redemptive course, but that's not where this film ends up, landing on a much darker, reflective note instead. The blue-tone cinematography of Piotr Sobocinski enhances the rapturous atmosphere and enhances suspense in a smartly written, disturbing job.