Edinburgh International Film Festival
EDINBURGH -- The list of prominent cinematographers-turned-directors is a short one -- Barry Sonnenfeld, Jack Cardiff, Nicolas Roeg, Freddie Francis and Jan De Bont spring to mind. On the evidence of the clunky Polish political thriller "Warsaw Dark", Christopher Doyle isn't likely to lengthen it anytime soon. It's classic example of style triumphing over substance. Knowledge of the real-life case on which the film is based may entice audiences in Poland. Otherwise commercial prospects appear gloomy.
Based on the still-unsolved killing of a prominent Polish politico that made national headlines in 2001, the diffuse story concentrates on Matylda (Anna Przybylska), a prostitute whose clientele includes several of the capital's more prominent citizens. When one of these johns is assassinated while with her in the back seat of a car, Matylda flees the scene only to be drugged and kidnapped by a sinister secret-service type (Leszek Zurek). He keeps her captive in a squalid flat and monitors her through CCTV cameras. The killing, meanwhile, is causing major repercussions among cops and mafia alike, and soon leads to further bloodshed.
It's a warning sign that there's no credited screenwriter for "Warsaw Dark", which originated as a script by Maciej Pisarek. When Doyle came on board, Pisarek reportedly exited the scene, which doesn't seem to have been to the project's advantage. As edited by Agnieszka Glinska, the plot is a convoluted chronological mish-mash that proves frustratingly difficult to follow. Doyle, whose sole previous feature-directing credit was 1999's "Away With Words", seems much more concerned with establishing an downbeat atmosphere of all-pervasive corruption and unspecified nefariousness, rather than with the old-fashioned business of actually telling a story. Attempts to give proceedings wider significance, through audio news-reports chronicling current Polish woes, come across as glibly opportunistic. Performances are solid and Kathy Rain Li's visuals are a strong suit.
It's disappointing to see yet again contemporary eastern Europe presented as a squalidly gritty, neon-lit dystopia.
Production companies: Ozumi Films. Cast: Anna Przybylska, Leslaw Zurek, Violetta Arlak, Adam Ferency, Jan Frycz. Director: Christopher Doyle. Producer: Marianna Rowinska. Director of Photography: Kathy Rain Li. Production Designer: Robert Czesak. Music: LE.AD. Costume Designer: Ada Wesolowska. Editor: Agnieszka Glinska. Sales: Ozumi Films, Warsaw. No rating, 87 minutes.
EDINBURGH -- The list of prominent cinematographers-turned-directors is a short one -- Barry Sonnenfeld, Jack Cardiff, Nicolas Roeg, Freddie Francis and Jan De Bont spring to mind. On the evidence of the clunky Polish political thriller "Warsaw Dark", Christopher Doyle isn't likely to lengthen it anytime soon. It's classic example of style triumphing over substance. Knowledge of the real-life case on which the film is based may entice audiences in Poland. Otherwise commercial prospects appear gloomy.
Based on the still-unsolved killing of a prominent Polish politico that made national headlines in 2001, the diffuse story concentrates on Matylda (Anna Przybylska), a prostitute whose clientele includes several of the capital's more prominent citizens. When one of these johns is assassinated while with her in the back seat of a car, Matylda flees the scene only to be drugged and kidnapped by a sinister secret-service type (Leszek Zurek). He keeps her captive in a squalid flat and monitors her through CCTV cameras. The killing, meanwhile, is causing major repercussions among cops and mafia alike, and soon leads to further bloodshed.
It's a warning sign that there's no credited screenwriter for "Warsaw Dark", which originated as a script by Maciej Pisarek. When Doyle came on board, Pisarek reportedly exited the scene, which doesn't seem to have been to the project's advantage. As edited by Agnieszka Glinska, the plot is a convoluted chronological mish-mash that proves frustratingly difficult to follow. Doyle, whose sole previous feature-directing credit was 1999's "Away With Words", seems much more concerned with establishing an downbeat atmosphere of all-pervasive corruption and unspecified nefariousness, rather than with the old-fashioned business of actually telling a story. Attempts to give proceedings wider significance, through audio news-reports chronicling current Polish woes, come across as glibly opportunistic. Performances are solid and Kathy Rain Li's visuals are a strong suit.
It's disappointing to see yet again contemporary eastern Europe presented as a squalidly gritty, neon-lit dystopia.
Production companies: Ozumi Films. Cast: Anna Przybylska, Leslaw Zurek, Violetta Arlak, Adam Ferency, Jan Frycz. Director: Christopher Doyle. Producer: Marianna Rowinska. Director of Photography: Kathy Rain Li. Production Designer: Robert Czesak. Music: LE.AD. Costume Designer: Ada Wesolowska. Editor: Agnieszka Glinska. Sales: Ozumi Films, Warsaw. No rating, 87 minutes.
- 6/19/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Venice International Film Festival
VENICE, Italy -- Few countries have a handle on matters of immigration, but a combination of free market profit-seeking and nanny-state regulations has resulted in a singular mess in Great Britain, as Ken Loach illustrates in his tough-minded slice of life picture "It's a Free World."
The ironically-titled movie, screened in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, focuses on a spirited young English woman who becomes inured to the fate of immigrants while working for a big recruiting agency. Battered by her own work experience, she starts up a new agency, but the opportunity to make big money by exploiting the desperate and vulnerable leads to corruption and violence.
Loach is in excellent form making the most of a shrewd screenplay by Paul Laverty and drawing a winning performance from newcomer Kierston Wareing as a brassy but misguided entrepreneur. The film should play well when it is telecast on Channel 4 in the U.K., and prospects are bright for its theatrical release elsewhere, not least because the dilemma it profiles is universal.
Cinematographer Nigel Willoughby and editor Jonathan Morris contribute much to the film's brisk energy while composer George Fenton's score, using alto sax and viola to great effect, illuminates its changing moods.
Immigrants enter the U.K. from all over the world, legally and illegally, and many of them are at the mercy of recruitment agencies that, if not entirely criminal, have dubious credentials. At one of them, Angie (Wareing) has a knack for placing workers into jobs but gets no respect from her male coworkers, who mostly see her as sexual fodder.
When complaining gets her fired, Angie convinces roommate Rose (Juliet Ellis), a college graduate who works at a call center, that they should go into business for themselves. Angie has a way with men, so she makes the rounds drumming up business while Rose works the phone and the Internet.
No matter how well educated people may be in their home countries, qualifications are irrelevant and the only work available is drudgery. Angie and Rose make contracts with builders, caterers, packagers, and others, for a given number of workers. Then they contract with the immigrants and send them jammed into vans for a day's work.
The film provides an urgent snapshot of one small part of a big problem, and offers a memorably tragic character in Angie. She goes nose-to-nose with tough-guy employers and fights for every inch of her place in the world. But she can't keep a relationship with a smart and caring Polish man (Leslaw Zurek), and the more things get out of hand the more callous she becomes and the more willing to flout the law.And while chasing her materialistic goals, she is a single mother whose son Jamie (Joe Siffleet) is in trouble at school and whose father, Geoff (Colin Coughlin) is a retiree who recalls when working people were paid more respect.
That's a time that has little place in the world sketched by Loach and Laverty. They offer no answers in this vivid and troublesome film, but then there probably aren't any.
IT'S A FREE WORLD
Pathe Distribution
Sixteen Films, Film4
Director: Ken Loach
Writer: Paul Laverty
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien
Executive producer: Ulrich Felsberg
Director of photography: Nigel Willoughby
Production designer: Fergus Clegg
Music: George Fenton
Costume designer: Carole K. Fraser
Editor: Jonathan Morris
Cast:
Angie: Kierston Wareing
Rose: Juliet Ellis
Karol: Leslaw Zurek
Jamie: Joe Siffleet
Geoff: Colin Coughlin
Cathy: Maggie Hussey
Andy: Raymond Mearns
Mahmoud: Davoud Rastgau
Mahmoud's wife: Mahin Aminnia
Children: Shadeh and Sheeva Kavousian
Derek: Frank Gilhooley
Tony: David Doyle
Company directors: Eddie Webber, Johnny Palmiero
Angry worker: Faruk Pruti
Headmistress: Jackie Robinson Brown
Attacker: Miro Somers
Care team: Neal Barry, Mick Connolly, Sian Wheldon
Polish translator: Malgorzata Zawadzka
Ukrainian translators: Marina Chykalovets, Oksana Gayvas
Motorbike riders: Abbi Collins, Julie Maynard
No MPAA rating, running time 93 minutes...
VENICE, Italy -- Few countries have a handle on matters of immigration, but a combination of free market profit-seeking and nanny-state regulations has resulted in a singular mess in Great Britain, as Ken Loach illustrates in his tough-minded slice of life picture "It's a Free World."
The ironically-titled movie, screened in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, focuses on a spirited young English woman who becomes inured to the fate of immigrants while working for a big recruiting agency. Battered by her own work experience, she starts up a new agency, but the opportunity to make big money by exploiting the desperate and vulnerable leads to corruption and violence.
Loach is in excellent form making the most of a shrewd screenplay by Paul Laverty and drawing a winning performance from newcomer Kierston Wareing as a brassy but misguided entrepreneur. The film should play well when it is telecast on Channel 4 in the U.K., and prospects are bright for its theatrical release elsewhere, not least because the dilemma it profiles is universal.
Cinematographer Nigel Willoughby and editor Jonathan Morris contribute much to the film's brisk energy while composer George Fenton's score, using alto sax and viola to great effect, illuminates its changing moods.
Immigrants enter the U.K. from all over the world, legally and illegally, and many of them are at the mercy of recruitment agencies that, if not entirely criminal, have dubious credentials. At one of them, Angie (Wareing) has a knack for placing workers into jobs but gets no respect from her male coworkers, who mostly see her as sexual fodder.
When complaining gets her fired, Angie convinces roommate Rose (Juliet Ellis), a college graduate who works at a call center, that they should go into business for themselves. Angie has a way with men, so she makes the rounds drumming up business while Rose works the phone and the Internet.
No matter how well educated people may be in their home countries, qualifications are irrelevant and the only work available is drudgery. Angie and Rose make contracts with builders, caterers, packagers, and others, for a given number of workers. Then they contract with the immigrants and send them jammed into vans for a day's work.
The film provides an urgent snapshot of one small part of a big problem, and offers a memorably tragic character in Angie. She goes nose-to-nose with tough-guy employers and fights for every inch of her place in the world. But she can't keep a relationship with a smart and caring Polish man (Leslaw Zurek), and the more things get out of hand the more callous she becomes and the more willing to flout the law.And while chasing her materialistic goals, she is a single mother whose son Jamie (Joe Siffleet) is in trouble at school and whose father, Geoff (Colin Coughlin) is a retiree who recalls when working people were paid more respect.
That's a time that has little place in the world sketched by Loach and Laverty. They offer no answers in this vivid and troublesome film, but then there probably aren't any.
IT'S A FREE WORLD
Pathe Distribution
Sixteen Films, Film4
Director: Ken Loach
Writer: Paul Laverty
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien
Executive producer: Ulrich Felsberg
Director of photography: Nigel Willoughby
Production designer: Fergus Clegg
Music: George Fenton
Costume designer: Carole K. Fraser
Editor: Jonathan Morris
Cast:
Angie: Kierston Wareing
Rose: Juliet Ellis
Karol: Leslaw Zurek
Jamie: Joe Siffleet
Geoff: Colin Coughlin
Cathy: Maggie Hussey
Andy: Raymond Mearns
Mahmoud: Davoud Rastgau
Mahmoud's wife: Mahin Aminnia
Children: Shadeh and Sheeva Kavousian
Derek: Frank Gilhooley
Tony: David Doyle
Company directors: Eddie Webber, Johnny Palmiero
Angry worker: Faruk Pruti
Headmistress: Jackie Robinson Brown
Attacker: Miro Somers
Care team: Neal Barry, Mick Connolly, Sian Wheldon
Polish translator: Malgorzata Zawadzka
Ukrainian translators: Marina Chykalovets, Oksana Gayvas
Motorbike riders: Abbi Collins, Julie Maynard
No MPAA rating, running time 93 minutes...
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