The Importance of Voting your Heart out
I'm getting considerable amount of pressure to choose movies for viewing, instead of putting them up for a vote. As I'm reluctantly inching in that direction, I would at least like to be an informed leader/dictator (depending which part of of bossing you around you prefer), and know your general tastes in films: Old? New? Documentaries? Surprise Me? So far I'm definitely not in sync, because I would never guess that 'Strike' would get majority of votes for September; I put it up for vote because of the Solidarity round anniversary, but didn't think anybody would want to watch 2 documentaries in a row (our August film, "The Peretzniks" was also a documentary).
To help you vote I asked Asia in Poland (she is a film school graduate, and the author of the October OKO film choices) to share with us how she arrived at those four movies (from 309 Polish-themed films she looked up at Scarecrow Video website).
Below is her response (English version google translated, slightly human-improved; why does google think 'Zurek' = 'Matthew Brown'?)
Truly yours,
- Future Benevolent Dictator
Enjoy:
Wybor dostępnych w Seattle polskich filmow jest dość ograniczony. Przeglądając liste od razu zwróciłam uwage na dwa doskonale obrazy Andrzeja Wajdy. Pierwszy to "Panny z Wilka" - piekny film wypełniony niezwykla atmosfera przemijania. W jednej ze scen występuje nawet sam Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. Drugi z filmów to chyba jeden z moich ulubionych "Ziemia obiecana". Preferuje wersje serialową, dłuższą, ale wersja fabularna tez zachwyca.
Po wytypowaniu tych tytułów pomyślałam, że kolejne dwa filmy jakie miałyby wziąć udział w glosowaniu powinny mieć zupełnie inny character i styl. Tak wiec klasyka starej, polskiej szkoły filmowej zestawiłam z dwoma opowieściami, które możnaby zaklasyfkowac jako kino społeczne lat 90 - "Dług" Krzysztofa Krauze oraz "Zurek" Ryszarda Brylskiego.
"Dług" uwielbiam za swietna kreacje Andrzeja Chyry i napięcie towarzyszące oglądaniu. "Zurek" jest zdecydowanie mniej waznym dla mnie filmem jednak Katarzyna Figura w roli głównej robi wrazenie chyba na każdym.
Myśle, ze dzieki tak roznorodnemu zestawieniu filmow widzowie będą mieli alternatywe. To co wyróżnia Klub OKO i jest, moim zdaniem fantastyczne, to fakt, ze klub tworza ludzie nie poprzez posiadanie legitymacji, a wlasnie przez możliwość wyboru filmu. Nawet jeśli uczestnicy glosowania mają różna wrazliwosc i gust to jest to pole do wspaniałych konstruktywnych sporow i dyskusji.
Asia.
The choice of the Polish movies available in the Seattle is quite limited. Reviewing the list I immediately noticed two excellent Andrzej Wajda’s works. The first is "The Maids of Wilko" - a beautiful film filled with extraordinary atmosphere of transience. In one scene there is even an apparance the very Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz. The second film is probably one of my favorites, ever: "The Promised Land". I prefer, the longer, TV series version, but the movie-theater version also delights the viewer.
After choosing these two titles, I thought that the next two films up for voting should have a completely different character and style. So I juxtaposed the classics of the old Polish Film School with two stories that could be classified social cinema of the 90s - "The Debt" by Krzysztof Krauze and “The White Soup” by Richard Brylski. I love "Debt" for the great creation of Andrew Chyra and the tension of the film. "The White Soup" is far less important to me, however, Katarzyna Figura in the lead role makes an impression probably on everyone.
I think that with such a diverse choice of movies the viewers will have alternatives. What distinguishes the OKO Club and is, in my opinion, fantastic, is the fact that the people forming the club do so not by having a membership card, but through the power of choice of the film. Even if the voting members have different sensitivities and tastes it creates a room for an excellent, constructive debate and discussion.
Asia.
There is a little ditty; I think from Almond Joy and Mounds commercial 'sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t'. I feel the same way about films - sometimes I want to see a documentary, sometimes a comedy, and so on. The main criteria should be that the film we choose is a good film or even a great film and that it will provoke a discussion (not every good movie does) I like voting but I can see that people may not be eager to make a choice between 4 movies, all of them not the greatest ones in their opinion, but, after looking at the next title they just want to decide if they come to the screening or not.
ReplyDeleteThere is a general trend to watch more documentaries (look at the last Seattle Film Festival!) and I would like OKO to continue its tradition of good documentaries, at least every other month: perhaps some biographical documents about Kieslowski, Konwicki, and Szymborska... As for a feature film, I like Salto by Konwicki with Zbyszek Cybulski very, very much
http://www.scarecrow.com/rental-title/?title=101285
What else – perhaps Saragossa Manuscript? After searching in Scarecrow Video using “Poland” keyword I got a list of 309 films. Our club can live long and prosper!
http://www.scarecrow.com/rental/?q=poland
Could we see "Chwilami życie bywa znośne" (2010)? It's a documentary about Wislawa Szymborska.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stopklatka.pl/film/film.asp?fi=44907. This movie is going to be shown in October in LA. I am not sure if the Settle Polish Film Festival is going to bring it here or not...
thanks, Hanna!
ReplyDelete1.) This supposedly pro-dictator group has some strong ideas regarding movies we should see:). Not just you, Krzys P. has an idea on the movie, too, and someone emailed me with very interesting collection of films he owns and is willing to share with OKO - I hope he posts the titles here soon, for all to see. I think perhaps we should try shared dictatorship in the future: everyone gets to rule one evening?
2.) On the Szymborska movie: sure, as long as it has English subtitles, so we fulfill our mission of promoting Polish-themed films in PNW, and your dictator does not end up in prison over connected licensing issues.