Cold War

Cold War is director Pawel Pawlikowski’s follow up to his critically acclaimed film Ida (2013). He continues his style of shooting in black and white with Cold War. The first part of this film is kind of boring and scant on details. Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) is a music director who falls in love with a young singer, Zula (Joanna Kulig), with a criminal history. It is set in Poland and more broadly Europe (there is a lot of country hopping) over the span of many years during the Cold War. I really liked the last half of the film. The first half was sort’ve boring and did not really engage me in any meaningful way. The love story in particular was very quick. Wiktor and Zula meet, have one conversation, have sex, and then you’re supposed to believe they are in love. There wasn’t enough development in that plot point for me. However, if you can set that aside and just go with the fact that they’re in love the second half of the film is pretty enjoyable. Obstacle after obstacle is presented for the couple to overcome to be together. You are supposed to be really rooting for them to be together. Which would be fine but I kind of didn’t care all that much about either of them. Will they end up together or won’t they? A pretty classic romance story. It’s complicated by the politics of the Cold War and the divide over Eastern and Western Europe. I will say that the film is beautifully shot. Cinematographer Lukasz Zal creates a masterpiece with each frame being more beautiful than the last. Without Zal’s touch, I doubt I would’ve liked the film as much. If you can bypass the lack of character development at the beginning and just focus on the beautiful shots then you will enjoy this one.

Film or Movie: Film
You’ll like this film if:
1. You like Polish cinema
2. You liked Ida (2013)
3. You are a cinematography nerd