HAMLET SYNDROME (2023) Kino Polska at BAM

HAMLET SYNDROME 
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine five actors ponder Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” speech in the wake of their experience with war. This is a kick ass film that mixes literature with the hard truths od warfare. Less about the speech than the damage done by war this is a film that will rock you thanks to the march of current events. This is a small gem of a film.

Eo (2022) Kino Polska at BAM

EO is a beautiful film it’s a film that draws comparison to Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar since both are about the life of a donkey.  However unlike the Bresson film EO is wildly all over the place.

Nominally EO is the story of a donkey who lives and works in a circus is taken away by authorities. He is brought to a farm and eventually ends up wandering the country side having adventures.

The truth is this is like 9 or 10 films mashed together. We get all sorts pieces of stories that could be longer films unto themselves. More to the point as the film goes on Eo is just a link say between the truck driver story and the suspend priest tale. They are short and sweet but other than giving director Jerzy Skolimowski to do little vignettes (and work with Isabelle Huppert) they kind of go nowhere.  Additionally after a certain point it’s not clear how we get from place to place. When Eo is beaten by the soccer thugs  he goes to a hospital and then we see him working in a guy with animals he seems to be electrocuting, how did he get there?

The pieces themselves are fine but that’s all they are, pieces. There is no sense of ending. Even the end of the film was out of left field. Walking out of the film I spoke with a couple of people who were scratching their head. I also spoke with one journalist who had seen the film at Cannes and loved it but on seeing it a second time found it didn’t hold together.

Its  a beautiful film, and has moments, but it never comes together as a whole.

WOMAN ON THE ROOF (2022) Kino Polska at BAM

With WOMAN ON THE ROOF playing KINO POLSKA AT BAM here is my review from last year's Tribeca

WOMAN ON THE ROOF is being mis-described. The festival write ups talks about  an older woman trying to rob a bank, and while that happens that’s only a tiny part of the film. The reality is this is the story of a woman of certain age trying to find her place in the world. It’s a beautifully acted low key film that is going delight those who like solid dramas and thoughtful character studies.

To be honest I wish I had not seen it in the middle of a festival. I know that seeing it as the 52nd film at Tribeca worked against my absolutely loving it.  I mean Dorota Pomykala gives absolutely seismic performance making this a moving film  but in the crush of other festival films it was over whelmed. This is one of those films where I know I will have to revisit it. Its something that happens at festivals where you are seeing so much that smaller films get pushed aside because you’re so hyped up trying to see as much as you can you can’t give some films the thoughtful contemplation the film deserves.

I know that WOMAN ON THE ROOF is an infinitely better film than what I feel for it right now. I say that know that when the fest is done and I can catch it again down the road I will.

On the other hand since odds are you will not be seeing as many films as I have been seeing for the fest, and if you love great performances and quite dramas that kick you to the curb then see WOMAN ON THE ROOF when it plays at Kino Polska at BAM on the 25th