On my first watch of Cold War from 2018 it caught me off guard with its ingenuity and apathetic as a matter of fact tone towards intense passion.
It was the first time I saw a Pawel Pawlikowski film and was much pursued.
How the story goes
Poland. Some time after the second world war, a state sponsored academy travels the country in search of folk music. They audition young men and women to find talents that will suit the academy.
Among the juries, there is Wiktor, a pianist and an opera director. He and Zula, a new, pretty and young talent fall head over heels in love. But shortly they both realize the road to attain each other's company won’t be a clean one across a sunny, green country.
Soon the academy is forced to uphold, cherish and spread communist propaganda and sing merry songs about this champ here, yes you guessed right!
Wiktor decides to leave Poland and take zula with him. But does Zula go with him? No, she’s too much of a pragmatist. Zula does not leave.
And in the next 15 years their wild vehemence for each other keeps merging their paths, only to be severed by other people and also by the lovers individual traits. Many a time They bolter and leave their shadows behind. Yet they find their ways into each other's embrace time and time again, almost like a broken clock!
But its more than that
This might sound like a very melodramatic story and to some extent it is. However, the way the film is crafted, it feels dry and restrained, delivered with extraordinary pathos— yet void of any sentimentality. The woman, Zula, played by Johanna Kulig, is like a person who often suffers from indecisions and doesn't want to be in tight spots so to speak and so they tread the water lightly and take whatever path feels right to them.
The man on the other hand, Wiktor, Played by Thomasz Cot is someone less preoccupied -- someone who can live in the now. Who, perhaps, is naive to a degree that ultimately can lead to their downfall.
Yet, their mutual agitation for each other triumphs their personal barriers and to see them yearning is to feel it myself. To relate how each encounter brings forth not only mirth but also uncertainty—how the time they share invokes bittersweet cheerfulness.
The film was nominated for three academy awards and won best director at Cannes film festival along with many other awards and nominations. One thing is clear of the bat, it has pretty frames. They will indeed feast your eyes.
What I did not like
I have some complaints about the ending, which I will not reveal here for obvious reasons, as I bypassed most of the story only revealing the gist of it. All I'm gonna say is that I thought the culmination of the story could be less nihilistic. I’m not saying I hated it, it’s just that I’m an optimistic guy in a nigh-nihilistic way.
I wonder...um... if that makes sense.
Have you seen the film? Did you like it? I’d like to see your thoughts on it.
Bye for now.