there are so many shots of joanna kulig in a crowd but you have never have any trouble finding her. every part of this movie is beautiful. i don’t even know what to say besides: it’s perfect

Man falling in love with upcoming singer? Gorgeous black and white cinematography? 4:3 aspect ratio? Yup, it’s a 2018 film!

near flawless on a technical level, but i have the same issue i have with a star is born ... the romance just doesn’t work for me! clearly it works for many others, so maybe i’m missing something, but personally i couldn’t feel the love between these characters. yes, they’re based on writer/director pawel pawlikowski’s own parents, but somehow it still felt like the same rehashed story of the older man and his talented younger muse that i’ve seen a million times. the political backdrop of the cold war, joanna kulig’s powerhouse singing, and the stunning black & white cinematography do freshen up the stale romance, but i keep unintentionally ending every thought i have with the word “but” because i, a hopeless romantic, felt nothing.

Saw it on the big screen at the Golden Apricot Film Festival.
Every shot is masterful. Looking forward to seeing it again.

Interesting seeing the film with an Armenian/Russian crowd. The first song that Joanna Kulig sings in the film is from the famous 1934 Russian film Moscow Laughs. (This is what I was told - not confirmed) This went over well with the audience being that most recognized it.

every other movie sucks now

AFI 2018: film #19 (first seen at CIFF)

“i’ll be with you till the end of the world”

mesmerizing. every second of this is so engrossing to me that this viewing felt only minutes long. i haven’t stopped thinking about it since i saw it in chicago, and tonight it only got better. i almost felt weightless afterwards, in some kind of cinematic trance. joanna kulig gives one of my favorite performances of the year, and the camerawork and lighting and MUSIC and everything else only adds to it. this really feels like the whole package to me now, which surprises me as much as anyone else. it snuck up on me

CIFF 2018: film #4

“i’ve been waiting for you”

a far more engrossing love story than i was expecting. the kind of sickening love between two people who often can’t stand to be together, but  can’t bare to live apart. there’s no real happy, no real answer to their problem. the fleeting excitement of reuniting time after time is the height of their long shared journey, and the rest is as much a mystery to us as it is to them

the final act wraps up kind of fast, but besides that, it’s an incredibly solid film. the song she sings and how it develops and changes like a theme song throughout the years really helps keep track of time: like an ever present ghost in the character’s lives, always looming a little too close. and by the time this thing ended, i realized how invested i was, and the credits felt like a punch in the gut

"Let's go to the other side. The view will be better there."

Forever drawn to each other, incapable of forgetting. Escape was never an option. For them, love is eternal.

it's always so frustrating when i'm underwhelmed by a film everyone else loves. pawlikowski is a master and joanna kulig does some beautiful work, but i felt nothing. i think the constant time jumps made for an entirely too incomplete story, which made it difficult for me to become invested in zula and wiktor's doomed romance. the ending would've been affecting if only i cared about anything that came before it

TALENTED, BRILLIANT, INCREDIBLE, AMAZING, SHOW STOPPING, SPECTACULAR, NEVER THE SAME, TOTALLY UNIQUE, COMPLETELY NOT EVER BEEN DONE BEFORE

((i also went on the curzon film podcast to talk about it))

A standout scene from Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cold War involves a simple song and dance. No words are spoken, but nothing needs to be said—the actions speak volumes. Zula (Joanna Kulig) is looking defeated at the bar, embittered by her lover Wiktor (Tomsz Kot) ignoring her. The smooth baritone of Bill Haley suddenly blares through the club’s speakers. Zula quickly gets up and drunkenly dances with feverish energy, moving from man to man, and then on top of the bar, much to the chagrin of Wiktor. Music becomes a source of liberation. If Zula is drifting from the jazz leanings of her lover, is she drifting from him as well? The scene unfolds in a transfixing single take—a fleeting moment of chaotic serenity.

FULL CANNES REVIEW ON MUCH ADO ABOUT CINEMA

dilf

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus

JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESUS

Utter masterpiece 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

I was surprised I didn't like this movie - a great female lead performance, beautiful black and white photography and ....................

Shallow characters. Boring love story. Why should I care?

Unusual film. Elliptical. Told largely through music (and a little dance) in a way that might recall Robert Altman or Terence Davies - but doesn't really at all. More strongly it reminds me of The Lives of Others but is less prosaic. The real Cold War is ultimately in the background.

i could’ve sworn this film was colored, then i rewatched it. it’s so weird. what the fuck brain.

En la cineteca Rosalía Solano con mi mamá.

perfection. some of the best cinematography and music i’ve seen put to film in a while. a masterclass in the art of showing and not telling

Beautifully shot and really well-acted. A very different story than I’d thought it would be and I’m better for having seen this, finally.

Together with Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, Paweł Pawlikowski’s latest work of beauty Cold War reminds modern viewers how lovely and, yes, roomy a film shot in the old, squarish Academy ratio can look...

[Read the rest here.]

Wow. Movie started of a bit slow in my opinion but grew on me. Amazing music, stunning cinematography and very good acting! Specially from the leads!

4/5

50’s Europe. Folk and jazz soundtrack. Vey original subject matter. Tragic love. Heart stopping aesthetics. Political refugees. Lean and clean narrative. Concise run time. 4:3 aspect ratio. International production collaboration. Modest yet expansive. An en passionner flame against the cold. A WHOLE 
MOOD.

Visuals took my breath away. So deliberate and so successful. Pawlikowski shoots individuals like Dreyer and crowds like Sternberg.