Directed by: Pawel Pawlikowski
Written by: Pawel Pawlikowski and Janusz Głowacki with Piotr Borkowski
ChinoKino score: A-
Review by Allan Tong
One of the best films of 2018 is Cold War from Poland.
Sure, it was has a few plot holes (particularly in act three), but it boasts the best cinematography I have seen in a long time, shot in gorgeous black-and-white and framed in 4x3. It's also driven by strong performances by Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot.
They play star-crossed lovers in postwar Polandafter he hires her to sing and dance in a folk music ensemble that crosses Communist Europe. They spark at first sight. Kulag's Zula is emotional and impulsive. The stoic and handsome Wictor (Kot) flees to Paris at the height of the Cold War and waits for Zula to join him. What happens after that is unpredictable and is satisfying depending on whether you believe the choices the lovers make (I didn't).
Kulig burns up the screen as the Polish chanteuse. She's fiery and mercurial. Kot stands by her, though I sometimes wondered why. Holding everything together is the music--ranging from Polish folk to American bebop--and a mesemerizing romance. Again, the cinematagraphy is stunning. It is a pleasure to watch Cold War. And the music crosses several genres, from Polish folk to bebop jazz. The Parisian scenes are the film's highlights, musically and visually.
Cold War's Pawel Pawlikowski won Best Director at Cannes last spring, and I can see why. He plays it cool on screen, relying on old-school film techniques, including long wide shots and slow cutting to sensitively convey the turbulent love story of Zula and Wictor of the 1950's.
I don't know if Cold War will beat Roma at the Oscars (also shot in black and white, but less effectively), but it should catch the eye of North American filmgoers. It is haunting and beautiful.