The Polish
cinema is in the phase of its renaissance. There are many Polish movies made these
days, which are of „Hollywood quality”: interesting, up-to date and well-told
stories, with terrific performances of actors. Good examples of such movies
would be: “Ida” directed by Paweł Pawlikowski, „Papusza” by Krzysztof and
Joanna Krauze or „Płynące wieżowce” by Tomasz Wasilewski, to name a few.
However, abroad
the Polish cinema has been appreciated for a long time. Martin Scorsese, an
outstanding movie director, is one of its fans. Below you can read his opinions.
.jpg)
[photo from:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhcuvBZ5hjUGXam2y-aGSa29nH9KpKi3jcHeZYaYuVNQ4GB-RbOC1cCuosrt0WqrBXS49kPcIsKZ1QUzzYAj64ZNHk4B9IXTAbzEgAGf4wir8292db8n0fsrmlnY6FOF0S4vHW3vXWxZc/s1600/600full-martin-scorsese+%281%29.jpg]
„Polish
cinema has showed me a good way of telling stories, which existence I had not
anticipated. I must admit, it was quite a shock to me. I have noticed that
whenever I want to explain something to my actors or cinematographic, I show
them Polish movies from the 50ties. I have often presented Wajda movies to
various producers in Hollywood, and they couldn’t believe their eyes, because
they had not seen something like that before.”
His delight
isn’t superficial. He has started to promote Polish cinematography in USA and Canada.
He has established a program "Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of
Polish Cinema". Thanks to the program international audience will have an opportunity
to see 21 digital renovated Polish masterpieces. Among them there are movies like
„Ashes and Diamonts” by Andrzej Wajda, „Salto” by Tadeusz Konwiski, „A short film
about killing” by Krzysztof Kieśliwoski and „Crusaders” by Aleksandra Ford.
[photo from: http://1.fwcdn.pl/po/11/57/1157/6936918.3.jpg]
Screenings
of the movies will start in February 2013. The inauguration show will take
place in the prestigious Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York. Then the
movies will be presented in over 30 cinemas in USA and Canada. The tour will be
organized by “The Film Foundation Martin Scorsese”, which is engaged in film
education and promoting of history of cinema. It is worth pointing out that
many outstanding Hollywood actors cooperate with the foundation.
Martin Scorsese
has been honored with a title of doctor honoraris caus of Łodź Film School for the
promotion of the Polish cinematography. When receiving the title he said:
„During my
studies, I had an amazing teacher, who really believed in me and was a great
source of my inspiration. One day he made a terribly long exam with regards to
our sensitivity. We were to draw a frame with our emotions concerning a
particular film. I chose „Ashes and Diamonts’ by Andrew Wajda. In Poland you
have a fantastic national cinematography: Munk, Has, Polański, Kieślowski,
Skolimowski. Thank you.”
Many people
think that the Polish cinema is weak and it will never change. I absolutely
disagree. Some of the cinematography masterpieces were and still are made in
Poland. We have great directors, cinematographers and actors. We should be
proud of these achievements and promote our cinema, as Martin Scorsese.
Here is film
list:
What do you
think about the Polish cinema?
Have you ever
watched Martin Scorsese movies? If yes, what do you think about it?
What is your
view about his program? Is it a good idea?
Comments
I believe in the future polish cinematography have to change for better but probably film-makers will have to require a little help from abroad (like good film company from USA which will lead polish directors to better future in movies).
It doesn’t mean that there are n good polish moves in last few years. I liked “Pokłosie” by Pasikowski or “Vinci” by Juliusz Machulski. But those are only exceptions. Fewer and fewer every year.
But I wish that our moves were better, because I think that there is great potential here in Poland to make good moves. We used to make good moves in the old times. We made comedies that made us laugh, but not form some idiotic jokes that you can see in “Job” or “Kac Wawa” but some sophisticated sense of humor. I know that those comedies made by Bareja used to point the dumb aspects of life in rightly past era, but as we all see in our daily life there are many aspects to laugh about nowadays as well. I hope that Martin Scorsese will help us find that lost potential and I’m really looking forward to it.
As for Martin Scorsese’s films I can’t say that I’m some big fan of his work, but I liked some of his films like “Infiltration” and “Aviator” for example.
Polish cinema is as every other cinema - it has bad movies and it has diamonds. I don't think that we should be ashamed of it, we have world class directors and actors.
About MS: I've seen most of his movies, I really enjoyed them (maybe because I like Robert De Niro, or maybe because of MS I like De Niro :)
Is it a good idea to show Polish cinema to the rest of the world? Sure! I think that he picked some excellent movies there, I'm a big fan of Krzysztof Kieślowski who is extraordinary person - I recommend "I'm so so" (http://www.filmweb.pl/film/Krzysztof+Kie%C5%9Blowski%3A+I'm+So-So...-1995-119020).
I like older movies although. Too bad we stopped making these gangster movies. The most popular Killer was really good, and I think everyone saw E=mc^2 and Poranek Kojota. They weren't all that great, but still pretty good.
Also what is better than what we have in Polish cinema right now? Polish cinema from 30-50 years ago :) I bet no one saw "Niespotykanie spokojny człowiek" but everyone knows Sami Swoi. There were pretty good movies in the past
Martin Scorsese isn't really my favorite director. I've seen some of his films and I think they were good in general, but not just "my type". One movie I really liked was Cape Fear and I watched it more than one time for sure.