16/09/2005

Komornik (the usher), Feliks Falk's first film after 10 years away from the screen, has been one of the most applauded films so far at the Gdynia Polish Film Festival.
Wodzirej (Top Dog – 1977), Falk's most famous movie, has become a classic masterpiece of Polish cinema. In this film, the director depicted the drama of a ruthlessly ambitious man (the admirable Jerzy Stuhr). The context around this grotesque, yet tragic, character is now outdated, but the new film, Komornik, has a similar content: it deals with career and ambition. It is in fact a 2005 version of the character already depicted 30 years ago in a communist context.

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This time, the main character is not a party entertainer eager for money and power, but an usher working for the State. As he performs his task, he undergoes a metamorphosis and shifts from intransigent brutality to generous compassion. 'This character is very revealing, very typical of our times. I see him as a metaphor of the current state of the Polish society: despite aspirations to become a Western society, the system and its conception of hierarchy and order do not take individual development into account,' explained Andrzej Chyra (the lead actor) for Cineuropa.
The film was produced by Film Studio Perspektywa with Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych, TVP, Canal Plus Polska, and the National Production Agency. The Polish release is scheduled for the 7th of October.

After Venice (cf.news 4 Sept.), the Gdynia Polish Film Festival is the second festival to present Persona non grata [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Krzysztof Zanussi. The director came back from Italy without an award, but his chances here are debatable, since, in the past few years, Gdynia has distinguished mostly young directors. Furthermore, Polish critics are not very enthusiastic (although they did appreciate the excellent performances from the actors) about this movie which was released in Poland a week ago. The results will be announced on Saturday night.

(Translated from French)