“There is in every one of us, even those who seem to be most moderate, a type of desire that is terrible, wild, and lawless.”—The Republic, Book IX 572bWhat’s the best way to describe the mania of an Andrzej Żuławski film? William Grimes, eulogizing Żuławski for The New York Times chose “emotionally savage.” J. Hoberman used “hyperkinetic,” “frenzied,” and “‘awful’ in its root sense of inspiring dread. Daniel Bird, writing about the most recent Lincoln Center screenings in New York, chose “deeply disturbing.” These descriptors make perfect sense after experiencing a Żuławski film, but I’ve never been able to sell his films to a newcomer this way. How could I? They’re much too primal for adjectives in our delicate English language, crafted to communicate Enlightenment-era ideas in a pleasing series of vibrations. The intensity of this director’s films could only be described in some sort of ancient Lovecraftian squelching,...
- 3/28/2016
- by Zach Lewis
- MUBI
Andrzej Żuławski. Photo by Isabelle Vautier.How does one translate into film the books by Witold Gombrowicz, who ranks among the greatest modernists of the 20th century? Few have actually dared. Whereas Peter Lilienthal’s adaptation for television of Pornografia (Die Sonne angreifen, 1971) has been all but consigned to oblivion, the famed Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski went on a 17-year hiatus following his failed adaptation of Ferdydurke (30 Door Key, 1991). However, the opposite holds true for Andrzej Żuławski, who came out of a 15-year pause to adapt for the screen Gombrowicz’s fourth novel Cosmos (1965), also his last and most complex. Unfortunately, it became a farewell work for Żuławski as well. What kind of cosmos is it? First and foremost, it’s the bizarre microcosm of a boarding house where the young writer Witold (Jonathan Genet) arrives with his friend Fuchs (Johan Libéreau) in tow to finish his novel The Haunted.
- 3/13/2016
- by Boris Nelepo
- MUBI
If there’s any way to synthesize the many pieces that form the bull-in-a-china-shop filmmaking that is Andrzej Żuławski‘s Cosmos, an adaptation of Witold Gombrowicz‘s novel, consider its status as his first feature in fifteen years. Might some sense of long-awaited release account for its why and how — the intensity of its performances, the force of its camera moves, the sharpness in its cuts, the bombast of its emotions? I’m inclined to think so, but it’s possible I’m only proposing this in search of a “what” — what’s going on, what he was thinking, and what we’re meant to take from any and all of it. Answers, if they do come at all, will only gradually present themselves, and they won’t arrive via exposition or, with some exception, clearly stated themes. A filmmaker who values the power of shock, but not necessarily thrills for thrills’ sake,...
- 11/23/2015
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2014 discoveries”…
Heather McIntosh: MaddAddam Trilogy, Margaret Atwood. Volumina for Organ, György Ligeti. Mind Brains (Orange Twin Records)
Lavallee: In Z for Zachariah, Craig Zobel goes from a “Great World of Sound” (pardon the pun) to nothingness. How did you research dystopia, lifeless scapes and survivalism?
McIntosh: The score fits somewhere between pastoral and experimental. Research, I studied a lot of contemporary organ scores, like the Ligeti one above (not that the score really went that far out).
Lavallee: This is your second outing with Craig, your previous collaboration was the cringe worthy essay on victimization. In terms of instrument selection, what did you sprinkle onto Z?
McIntosh: For Compliance, it was cello driven. For Z for Zachariah, Cello is still there, but there is a larger chamber ensemble sound, pump organ, piano, choral ensemble, French horn, and a as always a sprinkling of electronic ambience.
Heather McIntosh: MaddAddam Trilogy, Margaret Atwood. Volumina for Organ, György Ligeti. Mind Brains (Orange Twin Records)
Lavallee: In Z for Zachariah, Craig Zobel goes from a “Great World of Sound” (pardon the pun) to nothingness. How did you research dystopia, lifeless scapes and survivalism?
McIntosh: The score fits somewhere between pastoral and experimental. Research, I studied a lot of contemporary organ scores, like the Ligeti one above (not that the score really went that far out).
Lavallee: This is your second outing with Craig, your previous collaboration was the cringe worthy essay on victimization. In terms of instrument selection, what did you sprinkle onto Z?
McIntosh: For Compliance, it was cello driven. For Z for Zachariah, Cello is still there, but there is a larger chamber ensemble sound, pump organ, piano, choral ensemble, French horn, and a as always a sprinkling of electronic ambience.
- 2/5/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Reviewed as part of the 27th Leeds International Film Festival (6-21 Nov, 2013)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Here’s something you don’t see every day.
Part- cinema, part- sound art; part- homage, part- head-trip: just what exactly is Kleksploitation? Don’t be surprised to find the term missing from even the most comprehensive of film criticism guides. For it’s the rather unique name given to the psychedelic subversion of Pan Kleks, a Polish trilogy of children’s films from the 1980s, as they are sliced apart, smashed together and then soundtracked – live – by the British DJ, musician and record producer Andy Votel. With barely any dialogue, an absence of subtitles and a near-constant supply of swooping sirens and ear-shattering screams, it’s certainly not your typical Monday night down the multiplex.
Similar in both name and nature to experimental filmmaker Amos Vogel, Votel uses a range of trippy techniques...
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Here’s something you don’t see every day.
Part- cinema, part- sound art; part- homage, part- head-trip: just what exactly is Kleksploitation? Don’t be surprised to find the term missing from even the most comprehensive of film criticism guides. For it’s the rather unique name given to the psychedelic subversion of Pan Kleks, a Polish trilogy of children’s films from the 1980s, as they are sliced apart, smashed together and then soundtracked – live – by the British DJ, musician and record producer Andy Votel. With barely any dialogue, an absence of subtitles and a near-constant supply of swooping sirens and ear-shattering screams, it’s certainly not your typical Monday night down the multiplex.
Similar in both name and nature to experimental filmmaker Amos Vogel, Votel uses a range of trippy techniques...
- 11/9/2013
- by Dan Wakefield
- Obsessed with Film
A few weeks ago our UK readers got the good news that Andrzej Zulawski's Possession is on its way to Blu-ray from Second Sight, and today we have a trailer, a couple of stills, and some new artwork to share.
As for why Second Sight made the sleeve change, the company's rep Chris Holden stated, "We were able to access a higher quality theatrical poster image and have decided to stay truer to the original colours. We're really pleased with the result!"
The disc releases with an amazing array of extras on July 29th.
Synopsis
A horror film like no other, Possession, directed by Andrzej Zulawski, is an intense and shocking experience that was originally banned in the UK on the notorious ‘Video Nasties’ list. Possession was nominated for a BAFTA and the Palme d’Or and stars Isabelle Adjani (Subway, La Reine Margot), whose astonishing performance earned her...
As for why Second Sight made the sleeve change, the company's rep Chris Holden stated, "We were able to access a higher quality theatrical poster image and have decided to stay truer to the original colours. We're really pleased with the result!"
The disc releases with an amazing array of extras on July 29th.
Synopsis
A horror film like no other, Possession, directed by Andrzej Zulawski, is an intense and shocking experience that was originally banned in the UK on the notorious ‘Video Nasties’ list. Possession was nominated for a BAFTA and the Palme d’Or and stars Isabelle Adjani (Subway, La Reine Margot), whose astonishing performance earned her...
- 6/21/2013
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Andrzej Zulawski's Possession is a movie that's pretty hard to track down in its uncut form. Sure, expensive bootlegs are floating around the usual haunts, but our friends across the pond are now Officially getting the goods while we sit on our thumbs here Stateside.
From the Press Release
A horror film like no other, Possession, directed by Andrzej Zulawski, is an intense and shocking experience that was originally banned in the UK on the notorious ‘Video Nasties’ list. Now this hugely controversial film makes its long-awaited Blu-ray debut courtesy of Second Sight Films.
Possession was nominated for a BAFTA and the Palme d’Or and stars Isabelle Adjani (Subway, La Reine Margot), whose astonishing performance earned her Best Actress awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the French Césars, alongside Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, Omen III – The Final Conflict). The film features stunning special effects by Carlo Rambaldi (Alien,...
From the Press Release
A horror film like no other, Possession, directed by Andrzej Zulawski, is an intense and shocking experience that was originally banned in the UK on the notorious ‘Video Nasties’ list. Now this hugely controversial film makes its long-awaited Blu-ray debut courtesy of Second Sight Films.
Possession was nominated for a BAFTA and the Palme d’Or and stars Isabelle Adjani (Subway, La Reine Margot), whose astonishing performance earned her Best Actress awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the French Césars, alongside Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, Omen III – The Final Conflict). The film features stunning special effects by Carlo Rambaldi (Alien,...
- 5/29/2013
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
This Wednesday is an exciting day for New York-based cinephiles, as it marks the beginning of BAMcinématek's retrospective—the first in the U.S.—on Polish master Andrzej Żuławski for the series Hysterical Excess: Discovering Andrzej Zulawski. The series, under a different name, is also playing in Los Angeles at The Cine Family.
For those not in New York or L.A. (and even those who are), we were tipped to a special treat for fans of Żuławski, his regular composer Andrzej Korzynski, and their maddening marital horror film, Possession. The fantastic crate-digging curators of the brilliant Finders Keepers label have released a limited edition version (in green cassette tape!) of Korzynski's score for Żuławski's 1981 masterpiece. Like Morricone's score for Pasolini's Arabian Nights, a great deal of music was composed for Possession but only some of the full score made it into the final film. While this...
For those not in New York or L.A. (and even those who are), we were tipped to a special treat for fans of Żuławski, his regular composer Andrzej Korzynski, and their maddening marital horror film, Possession. The fantastic crate-digging curators of the brilliant Finders Keepers label have released a limited edition version (in green cassette tape!) of Korzynski's score for Żuławski's 1981 masterpiece. Like Morricone's score for Pasolini's Arabian Nights, a great deal of music was composed for Possession but only some of the full score made it into the final film. While this...
- 3/7/2012
- MUBI
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