With the recent passing of Polish film director Krzysztof Kieslowski (“The Decalogue,” “The Double Life Of Veronique,” “Three Colors Trilogy”), world cinema lost one of its giants. Kieslowski’s death was particularly painful to the Polish film community. But judging from the impressive offerings at this year’s Ninth Annual Polish Film Festival, Poles have rallied the cinematic troops and kept their film industry thriving.
This year’s fest includes 15 feature-length films. Many are U.S. premieres, and as testament to the influence of this gathering back in Poland, some will be making their world premieres in Chicago.
Highlights of this year’s festival include the most recent films by Krzysztof Zanussi, four special video programs, plus personal appearances by actress Katarzyna Figura and directors Filip Bajon and Radoslaw Piwowarski (whose film “The Dark Side Of Venus” is the opening-night offering). Also this year, the Polish Film Festival has established a lifetime achievement award, which honors a distinguished film artist for special artistic achievements beyond Poland. This year’s highly deserving winner is writer-director Agnieszka Holland (“Europa, Europa,” “The Secret Garden”), whose most recent film, the screen adaptation of Henry James’ “Washington Square,” is playing in theaters. Holland will be present to accept her award at 8 p.m. Sunday.
The Ninth Annual Polish Film Festival is Saturday through Nov. 11 at the Gateway Theatre of the Copernicus Foundation, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave.; 773-486-9612. Tickets are $7 per show ($6 for Society of Arts members), except for opening night, which is $15. A festival pass, good for 15 films, is also available for $75. (Note: Some of the films may not be subtitled, so be sure to check ahead before individual screenings.)
Following are reviews of features available for preview:
– “The Dark Side of Venus” (star) (star) (star) (director Radoslaw Piwowarski). This passionate and sometimes disturbing film, written and directed by Piwowarski (“Self-Portrait With A Lover”), examines the deadly sin of jealousy with an honesty and intensity you rarely see in American cinema. The story revolves around Ewa (the strikingly beautiful Agnieszka Wagner), who has given up her promising musical career to marry a famous conductor named Max. Their life together seems pleasant until Ewa receives a call from a woman who claims to be Max’s lover. The normally controlled Ewa’s first response to Max’s betrayal is to demand intense sex from her stunned husband on a regular basis. Then she redirects her energies elsewhere, in far more destructive ways. Soon jealousy turns to obsession, as Ewa loses touch with the little reality that remains in her life. The ending of this good-looking film is a bit flat, but thanks to a harrowing performance by Wagner, “The Dark Side Of Venus” is a moving and mature look at love, sex and marriage in the 1990s. (6:45 p.m. Saturday; 4 p.m. Nov. 9)
– “The Trap” (star) (star) 1/2 (Adek Drabinski). Written and directed by Lodz Film School graduate Drabinski, and starring the always entertaining Marek Kondrat, “The Trap” tells the doleful tale of an aspiring actor named Maciek, who is beginning to realize as he grows older that fame and fortune will probably never be his. After returning to Poland from a 10-year stay in Chicago, gambling debts force him to become a shady “delivery boy” for local gangsters. This apparently simple job turns out to be anything but simple and forces Maciek to use every ounce of his thespian skills just to survive. This nicely shot film starts out with a bang, as the multi-talented Kondrat, given plenty of room to move and groove, exhibits an extremely sharp comic touch. But once Maciek is settled into his beach cottage with the goods and meets a mysterious woman with a past, the film bogs down in confusing plot twists. (8:45 p.m. Monday)
– “Love Stories” (star) (star) (star) (Jerzy Stuhr). Written, directed and starring Stuhr, best known as Kieslowski’s favorite leading man, “Love Stories” borrows Kieslowski’s episodic structure to tell four separate stories of love lost and, sometimes, found. Stuhr plays the main character in all of them, exhibiting surprising range. In one, he portrays a middle-aged priest who discovers during daily confession that he has a teenage daughter whom he fathered many years before. In another, he is a college professor trying to deal with a shy student who has a serious crush on him. In a third, he plays an army colonel who rediscovers his former Russian lover. In the fourth, he is a small-time crook who can’t keep from loving his deceitful and unfaithful wife. The common thread that runs through these tales are the serious life choices we must all make. Though the stories are uneven, with the priest and crook segments standing out, the film contains moments of great warmth, humor and profundity. (4 p.m. Sunday; 9 p.m. Thursday)
– “100 Years Of Polish Cinema” (star) (star) (star) 1/2 (Pawel Lozinski). This 60-minute tribute to the history of Polish film, produced by the British Film Institute as part of a series celebrating the 100th anniversary of world cinema, was directed by Lozinski, based on an idea by Krzysztof Kieslowski. I first saw this film last year, along with six or seven of the other national tributes, and was mightily impressed by its simplicity and directness. It focuses on the faces and lives of typical audience members, as they remember, oftentimes with teary eyes, the films of their youth that moved and inspired them. The only problem with the tribute is that films aren’t identified, which makes it difficult to keep up if you’re who are not familiar with Poland’s cinematic past. But this also turns the tribute into a wonderful collage of ideas and images, as we sense just how much movies are tied in to people’s hopes and dreams. (6:45 p.m. Thursday and Nov. 10)
