677. Czlowiek z zelaza/Man of Iron (1981)

Running Time: 153 minutes
Directed By: Andrzej Wajda
Written By: Aleksander Scibor-Rylski
Main Cast: Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Krystyna Janda, Marian Opania, Irena Byrska, Wieslawa Kosmalska

A DOUBLE SHOT OF WAJDA: 2 of 2

Hey, it only about two weeks, but I finally managed to bring myself to watch Wajda's Man of Iron and cap of the double shot tribute to the Polish filmmaker. My wife and I did a Redbox run before we came home tonight, therefore tonight is about quality time. However, she's assured me that she'll do at least one BOOK movie with me tomorrow and then I need to get scootin' if I wanna wrap it up by Halloween. Read on...

Here comes yet another one where I really can't go too deep with plot synopsis, as I was sort of lost and it was probably my own fault to boot. I definitely mentally checked out of this one at around the one hour mark, but it seemed to pretty much pick up right where Man of Marble left off, giving us an even further Polish history lesson. While Man of Marble focuses on fictional character Mateusz Birkut, Man of Iron focuses on his son, Maciej Tomczyk (both played by Radziwilowicz). Here, Krystyna Janda's character is actually married to Tomczyk and the two have a baby. There's also a character named Winkel (Opania), who basically replaces the role that Janda's character played in the first one, going around and asking the questions, getting the history. Instead of shooting a film however, it is Winkel's task to get some dirt on Tomczyk, so that his opposing party can smear him. As Winkel digs deeper and deeper, he begins to side with Tomczyk on the issues, getting the real story from Tomczyk's college roommate and Janda's Agnieszka. That's about the long & short of it.

Actually that's not too bad for someone who mentally checked out at the hour mark. I pretty much have the same thoughts here that I did for Man of Iron, except (and THE BOOK even agrees) I actually liked Man of Marble a bit better. I felt that the story of Marble flowed a lot better and was more accepting of outsiders, who may not know the back story of the propaganda that Wajda was trying to spread. I felt that Man of Marble was more inviting to ignoramuses, in other words. On the other hand, Man of Iron seemed to be more of an insider film - like you had to know a bit of Polish history to "get it" all. Man of Iron, as Woody Allen would say, was too much like doing a homework assignment and less like a night at the pictures. I really feel like all propaganda films should have been left out of THE BOOK, as they serve a 100%, entirely different purpose than movies that are for sheer entertainment value. There's no way to compare this to something like The Jerk or Airplane!, as the two categories are apples & oranges and shouldn't even be mentioned together. But what do I know...Take a pass here, unless you're really into history - then enjoy!

RATING: 3.5/10  I dropped it a half notch compared to Man of Marble, simply to convey that Marble WAS better. They're both a couple of stinkers though and I'd suggest avoiding the lot - again, unless you're into history.

MOVIES WATCHED: 962
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 39

September 7, 2015  8:08pm

623. Czlowiek z marmuru/Man of Marble (1977)

Running Time: 165 minutes
Directed By: Andrzej Wajda
Written By: Aleksander Scibor-Rylski
Main Cast: Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Krystyna Janda, Tadeusz Lomnicki, Jacek Lomnicki, Michal Tarkowski
Click here to view the trailer

Note: Someone asked me the other day what I planned to end with and asked if I was "just going to let it happen", to which I replied, "yeah, pretty much". Anyway, it got me to thinking - perhaps I'll end with the Monty Python movies? I figure with what I have left it's just a good a pair of movies to end with as any and instead of ending on a serious note, I'd be ending on the most unserious note possible. Nothing's set in stone, but as of now, this is what I'm thinking of ending with.

However, as far as upcoming movies go - according to my count there are currently ten movies left that are over two hours. So here's the plan: I'll review those ten movies, then do Cassavetes Week and then start picking off whatever's left until we get to the end. Now then...

A DOUBLE SHOT OF WAJDA: 1 of 2

Technically, I should've done these other two Wajda flicks back when I did Ashes and Diamonds and did a Wajda Hat Trick, but apparently I wasn't thinking about it at the time and now it's too late. However, Man of Marble and Man of Iron go together, so this also works. Also, a Wajda Hat Trick could've been really difficult to get through, judging on my opinions of Ashes and Diamonds and now, of this.

If you want the plot of Man of Marble, think Citizen Kane and we'll go from there. Krystyna Janda (looking great here) plays young filmmaker Agnieszka, who wants to make a movie on the life of Mateusz Birkut (Radziwilowicz), a bricklayer turned anti-communist. The whole thing is set up, sort of, like half documentary, half fictitious film. We get faked newsreel footage, showing us Birkut setting the world, team bricklaying record and even bits & pieces of earlier "films" that were made about the life of Birkut. However, Agnieszka wants to dig deeper, so she begins interviewing people who were close to him, trying to find out answers to her queries. She first interviews the man who directed the earlier films on Birkut's life and is then bounced around from person to person, getting more and more information each time. Even the most rudimentary film watcher will be able to spot the similarities to Kane, as we meet someone and then get a piece of the history, where we see them as a younger person. All signs point to Birkut either being in deep hiding or dead. By film's end, Agnieszka is just as gung ho to find Birkut's only son, Maciej. She finally finds him at film's end, which I guess leads into Man of Iron.

I mean, I guess it was okay. I know I'll sound like a broken record, but I try to treat every review as if someone is reading it for the first time and doesn't know my personal taste profile or preferred viewing habits. Let's just say it kept me interested enough, even though it was about pieces of history that I'm entirely oblivious to. Communits, anti-communist, Polish workers movement, etc. - when words and phrases like that play such a pivotal role in the plot synopsis of a given title, you can pretty much bet I'm not going to like it. However, I will give kudos to Wajda for AT LEAST trying to make it interesting and even giving film fans something to cheer about by tying in heavy references to Citizen Kane (not that I'm the biggest Kane fan either). The movie is two and a half hours and to be honest, at no point did my attention span wane or did I get overly bored. I won't say I didn't get bored at all, just that I didn't get OVERLY bored. For the most part, I liked the technique that was used, treating Birkut as if he were a 100% real character, to the point that when the movie ended, I actually cared enough to look to see if he was real or fictional. He's fictional for the curious, but I'd be willing to bet he's heavily based on someone real. The film is significant for me though, for introducing me to Krystyna Janda, who was really great here and probably 95% of the reason my attention never wanted to wander elsewhere. She was pretty and a terrific actress to boot. I promptly added a movie called Interrogation to my watch list and in a very small way, look forward to Man of Iron. Otherwise, not much to get excited about here.

RATING: 4/10  I feel like Man of Iron and the two films of Ritwik Ghatak are going to be big hurdles to get over and then it'll be smooth sailing for a little while. I'll happily be proved wrong, however.

MOVIES WATCHED: 954
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 47

August 21, 2015  5:15pm

335. Popiol i diament/Ashes and Diamonds (1958)

Running Time: 103 minutes
Directed By: Andrzej Wajda
Written By: Jerzy Andrzejewski, Andrzej Wajda, from the novel Popiol i diament by Jerzy Andrzejewski
Main Cast: Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyzewska, Waclaw Zastrzezynski, Adam Pawlikowski, Bogumil Kobiela

THUS ENDS MY HOLIDAY BREAK

So I kind of snuck a little holiday hiatus in there, without officially announcing it and while I did do a review of Woody Allen's newest offering, Magic in the Moonlight, I haven't reviewed a BOOK movie since four days before Christmas. Anyway, I'm back now and in my absence I was able to lay out a plan for wrapping up this season within the next three weeks. I have a mini, four day vacation coming up on January 19th and if everything goes as planned (which it should), I should easily be able to wrap it up on that first day of vacation, which will give me three whole days to get the post written up and update all of my lists. Anyway...on with the show...

Yet another one that's going to be hard for me to write a proper plot synopsis for, as I sort of crapped out at about the thirty minute mark and was pretty much confused as to what was really going on for the majority of the running time. But, hey, I'll give it a shot! The film begins with Maciek (Cybulski) and Andrzej (Pawlikowski) staking out near a small chapel, in a small Polish town, during the final day of World War II. The two are soldiers who have been assigned to assassinate a Communist leader named Szczuka (Zastrzezynski). An army convoy comes barreling down the road, the two soldiers think that Szczuka is inside and open fire. They kill the driver and the passenger of the Army vehicle and soon later realize that Szczuka wasn't aboard - mission: failed. Later Maciek and Andrzej hole up in a hotel, where Maciek develops a crush on the hotel's barmaid, Krystyna (Krzyzewska). He hits on her relentlessly, eventually coaxing her into a date with him. Meanwhile, Andrzej takes on the task of telling his superior officer that Szczuka outsmarted them and Szczuka himself shows up at the very same hotel where Maciek is putting the moves on Krystyna. That's just about as far as I got with trying to make heads or tails of this one, so sorry for not being much help, although that is the gist of it.

Let's face it boys & girls, I was never going to like this one. Although, I will say that I was onboard in the beginning. I was comprehending all the information perfectly well: Maciek and Andrzej are assassins sent to kill Szczuka and they fail, then Szczuka ends up staying at the same hotel they're staying at. It seemed like the film had a perfectly feasible plot and was going to be more than just the director making his political allegiances known. It's just that somewhere along the way my umbilical cord as an audience member got severed from this movie and from that point on, I was just going through the motions, trying to earn my tick, as Ray would say. I will say that I loved the actor who portrayed Maciek though. THE BOOK notes that he was referred to as the "James Dean of the East" and I'd call that a pretty dead on comparison. The guy had that "it factor" that just drew your eyes to him anytime he took up screen time. I may not have known what they hell was going on, but I knew this girl Krystyna was never going to be able to resist this good looking guy and I was right. Speaking of good looking, the actress playing Krystyna wasn't half bad either - Polish was apparently churning out some good looking mugs in the 1950s and Ashes and Diamonds is a great representation of that. As it is, however, call it a loss. I tried and I failed to see any really redeeming qualities, which is a shame because I'd heard of this one before I even knew about THE BOOK, so I'd hoped it would offer me up a last minute candidate for the impending TOP 20. It's just another case of me not having enough real world knowledge of the aftermath following World War II and the effect that aftermath had on Poland that hindered me from really digging my heels into this one and enjoying it more.

RATING: 4/10  I'll give it some points for the good acting, for Zbigniew Cybulski and for obviously being much more than a glorified propaganda film, but ultimately a loss for me.

MOVIES WATCHED: 885
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 116

January 1, 2015  4:40pm
HAPPY NEW YEAR