From the beginning of the movie I feel as if I came to class late and the teacher is trying to fill me in quickly on what is the problem that we're going to be busying ourselves with today. As a viewer I wasn't allowed a chance to get roped into the story, the story was presented to me.
The idea of the movie is somehow brilliant, yet the actual piece is far from gripping. I can't imagine any non-Pole mustering any interest in the story. You get the feeling that the author's dream was to make a movie that made use of this type of surreal imagery and only then whipped up this flat plot to give the movie an excuse to exist.
Talking about imagery, as much as I enjoyed the slightly cartoonish visual effects that played well into the movie's premise, the one effect that deserves to be bashed here is the mirror trick (from 'Contact' 1997)used not once but twice within the first 15 minutes. OK, we get it, it's a great effect, no need to rub it in our faces though. Additionally the camera work is off, at times it's too realistic for such an (aspiring to be) surreal movie. In some scenes the viewer becomes painfully aware of the cameraman's existence which kills the already faint interest.
But the final nail to this pseudo artistic coffin is the theatrical acting. Deliberate.
On plus side, the wardrobe and art department did a great job.
'Hiszpanka' is one of those movies where it's easy to accuse the unconvinced audiences of ignorance. Yet I'll insist that a movie cannot stand on intertextuality alone. It should be a mere cherry on top. It's obvious what the movie was aiming at, It's also obvious that it missed.
The idea of the movie is somehow brilliant, yet the actual piece is far from gripping. I can't imagine any non-Pole mustering any interest in the story. You get the feeling that the author's dream was to make a movie that made use of this type of surreal imagery and only then whipped up this flat plot to give the movie an excuse to exist.
Talking about imagery, as much as I enjoyed the slightly cartoonish visual effects that played well into the movie's premise, the one effect that deserves to be bashed here is the mirror trick (from 'Contact' 1997)used not once but twice within the first 15 minutes. OK, we get it, it's a great effect, no need to rub it in our faces though. Additionally the camera work is off, at times it's too realistic for such an (aspiring to be) surreal movie. In some scenes the viewer becomes painfully aware of the cameraman's existence which kills the already faint interest.
But the final nail to this pseudo artistic coffin is the theatrical acting. Deliberate.
On plus side, the wardrobe and art department did a great job.
'Hiszpanka' is one of those movies where it's easy to accuse the unconvinced audiences of ignorance. Yet I'll insist that a movie cannot stand on intertextuality alone. It should be a mere cherry on top. It's obvious what the movie was aiming at, It's also obvious that it missed.