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‘Down But Not Out’: Less Equals So Much More

According to its synopsis on IMDB, the Polish documentary Down But Not Out (2015) focuses on four women stepping into the boxing ring for their first match ever. If I hadn’t looked it up, it would have taken me a few moments to figure it out on my own, as the movie doesn’t explicitly mention it. As a matter of fact, the movie doesn’t really tell the audience anything – no talking-head reflections or interviews, no narrator to hold your hand, and the only title cards are the ones that tell you what round it is in a fight. Down But Not Out is a documentary in the truest sense; it is merely a recording of events as they happened over the course of 24 hours. It’s closer to a home movie or security camera footage than Michael Moore as far as the documentary spectrum goes. It doesn’t seek to tell, it only shows.

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EIFF 2014: ‘Hardkor Disko’ is an incendiary film about a disaffected generation

‘Be intense or be nothing’. This statement, made by a middle-aged architect during a civilised breakfast, is put forward as a motto for his daughter’s disaffected generation. Lacking in attention and purpose, they need ‘stimulus after stimulus’ to stay interested, to keep them feeling alive. The phrase also becomes something like a raison d’être for Hardkor Disko, a film that hinges on its discomforting atmosphere and ability to aggravate the senses.

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GFF 2014: ‘Ida’ explores 1960s Poland with elegance and genuine depth

UK-based filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski returns to the country of his birth with a film that explores the persistence of the war in 1960s Poland. Shot in Academy ratio and soft black and white, the cinematography by Ryszard Lenczewski and Lukasz Zal is beautiful, capturing the stark landscapes and emotional weight of the historical period. The setting and subject matter seem to give Pawlikowski renewed impetus at an important stage in his career and the result is a measured, sombre film that succeeds in evoking the intricate world of its central figures.

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EEFF 2013: ‘Baby Blues’ colour-codes conflicting demands and temptations

Baby Blues Directed by Kasia Roslaniec Poland, 2013 Polish filmmaker Kasia Roslaniec returns to the East End Film Festival with another cynical tale of a youth spoiled by capitalist consumerism, following her turn at the event with 2010’s similarly themed Mall Girls. It’s probably disingenuous to make the blanket assumption that all Polish teenagers are …

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TJFF 2012: ‘My Australia’ is morally facile, tonally capricious

My Australia Written and directed by Ami Drozd Israel/Poland, 2011 In the social and economic fallout that followed World War 2, ten-year old Tadek and his older brother Andrzej become victims of the decaying zeitgeist in post-war Poland.  They benightedly join a gang of hooligans with neo-Nazi attitudes, but after being arrested for beating up …

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‘In Darkness’ is baggy but refreshingly lacking in cloying sentiment

In Darkness Written by David F. Shamoon Directed by Agnieszka Holland Poland/Germany/Canada, 2011 Better known in the last few years for directing episodes of such shows as The Wire, Treme, and the American version of The Killing, Agnieszka Holland returns to her native Poland for another film of hers concerning the plight of people during …

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