#1005: PAWLIKOWSKI, Pawel: Cold War (2018)

PAWLIKOWSKI, Pawel (Poland)
Cold War [2018]
Spine #1005
Blu-ray

This sweeping, delirious romance by Pawel Pawlikowski begins in the Polish countryside, where Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), a musician on a state-sponsored mission to collect folk songs, discovers a captivating young singer named Zula (Joanná Kulig, in a performance for the ages). Over the next fifteen years, their turbulent relationshiup will play out in stolen moments between the jazz clubs of decadent bohemian Paris, to which he escapes, and the corrupt, repressive Communist Bloc, where she remains — universes bridged by their passion for music and for each other. Photographed in luscious monochrome and suffused with the melancholy of the simple folk song that provides a motif for the couple's fateful affair, Pawlikowski's timeless story — inspired by that of his own parents — is a heart-stoppingly grand vision of star-crossed love caught up in the tide of history.

88 minutes

Black & White
5.1 Surround
in Polish, Croation, Russian, German, Italian, and French

1:33:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2019

Director/Writers

Screenplay by Pawel Pawlikokwski and Janusz Glowacki.

With the collaboration of Piotr Borkowski.

Pawlikokwski was 61 when he directed Cold War.

The Film

An award-winning film which deserves its kudos.

Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) is an ethnomusicologist and pianist. Zula (Joanna Kulig) is a talented young woman with a beautiful voice. This is their story.

Dwa serduszka is the folk song we will hear throughout the film, in vastly different versions — but like all the music in this seductive film, it is arranged and presented each time with precise attention to detail.

In addition, we get some Chopin (Fantasie-Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor); Gould doing the Goldberg Variations; Billie Holiday singing The Man I Love — and at a crucial moment in time, Rock Around the Clock.

An homage to his parents’ turbulent relationship, the choice to go black and white is timeless, as usual when done with the right touch. DP Łukasz Zal has the gift here, making monochromaticism burst into meaningful images …

The film is of course carried by the leads, Kulig and Kot.

Film Rating (0-60):

55

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by film critic Stephanie Zacharek.

“Every love affair requires a border crossing. The person you see across a crowded bar, or meet at a dinner party, or find on a dating app is another country altogether — maybe a nice place to visit, but do you really want to live there? To find out, you must first put a foot outside your own territory. And after that, falling in love means blurring the lines on your personal map. Where does your country leave off and your beloved’s begin? It can be delightful to merge nations and make a home right in the middle. Yet people, like countries, can be stubborn, unmanageable things. When two people lose sight of each other, sometimes they must redraw the borders around them to find what they’ve lost. And sometimes, when someone has hurt you too much, you need to build a wall between you and the other and call it a day, becoming a nation of one once again.”

Commentary

None.

Conversation

Between Pawlikowski and filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu.

Press conference

From the 2018 Cannes Film Festival featuring Pawlikowski and DP Łukasz Žal; actors Kulig, Kot, and Szyc; and producer Ewa Puszczyńska.

Two 2018 programs

On the making of the film, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Pawlikowski and others.

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

34

55 + 34 =

89

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