![]() ![]() "Blue" was minimalist in its intimacy, but its story still had some dramatic meat on its bones, and although there is some dramatic intrigue to this narrative, as well as a little more dynamicity, there's not much weight, and if there is, storytelling defuses it both through questionable pacing and even questionable tonal dynamicity. This film radically changes up formula after the formulaic "Blue", and might be a fresher piece for that, yet it's still far from being as original as it wants to be, hitting its share of conventions as an artistically spare dramedy which is ambitious in (the wrong kind of) style, but still thin in meat. Still, to say that this film is dull remains something of an understatement, because even though the final product surprisingly comes to the cusp of decency, it never quite escapes the aggravating grip of mediocrity, reinforced in part by familiarity. I try to subdue my compliments, but really, outside of the style, this film is way better than "Blue" in a lot of ways, having less pretense and more charm, less misguidance and more wit, and altogether less tedium and more entertainment value. The film is still only startling in its level of dullness, but there are moments, maybe not of resonance, but of charm, and they go anchored by plenty of endearing performances, the most endearing of which being by leading man Zbigniew Zamachowski, who is both fluffy and grounded enough in his portrayal of a man overcoming shyness in the harshest of ways for you to place some investment in an otherwise thin lead. This is a minimalist film, even more so than "Blue" in a lot of ways, but its story of a wronged man seeking a new life, if not what he feels is brutal justice is an intriguing one, with some colorful touches that Krzysztof Kieślowski and Piesiewicz, as screenwriters, bring to life when they're not thinning characterization and bloating meanderings, delivering on some witty humor and sharp dialogue, whose recurrence is surprising and helps in keeping the film from being quite as dull as the more quiet "Blue". The style is at least about as solid as it was in "Blue", but that wasn't the only thing that this film's predecessor had going for it, as it had occasions of moderate dramatic effectiveness which you'd think shouldn't be present in this more lighthearted affair, but is all but made up for once director Krzysztof Kieślowski's near-tedious thoughtfulness soaks up some subtle liveliness to what material there is. ![]() Still, considering that quiet dryness plays an instrumental part in dulling this film way down, a more recurrent, if arguably less impressive aesthetic attribute is Edward Kłosiński's cinematography, which utilizes a certain white palette, just as "Blue" utilized a certain blue palette, and proves to be just as, if not more beautiful than its predecessor, with a consistent dreaminess that, upon finding truly tasteful moments in lighting, is just plain haunting. ![]() It's ironic that it took this series fading to white to get some color on it, and even then, this film is hardly all that entertaining, despite having certain lively touches.Īs much as I'm not fond about this film, I really didn't care for "Blue", whose strengths stood, though not exactly firm, with a major exception being a score by Zbigniew Preisner that, while criminally underused, was brilliant in its often achieving masterfully realized heights in traditionalist classical sensibilities, and seeing as how this film is much less weighty, Preisner's score is much less soaring, although it remains outstanding in its subtle complexities and beautiful tones which range from minimalist to lively, - if not brilliant in a manner reminiscent of "Blue" and, by extension, legendary classical masterpieces - yet are never less than thoroughly impressive. ![]() I'm embarrassed to say that this film could have used some AC/DC, seeing as how it is well-known for its remarkably masterful classical score, but it doesn't even use the classical music as much as it ought to if it's aiming to, if you will, "color" things up. It can only be funnier than me boasting that Krzysztof Kieślowski is back in white, and that - don't you know - I'm not glad that he's back. Now, this film, on the other hand, at least had the good sense to try and liven things up with some humor, or rather, what a slow-burn French art film would consider humorous. First steps to freedom are lighter than we ever knew." Yeah, I went with Caligula's Horse, despite me preferring my music old-fashioned, and despite the song being almost twenty years younger than this film, because "Blue" was too slow for me to want to think of Cat Stevens'/Carly Simon's "Into Wait", and too mediocre for me to want to think about a Pixies song other than "Where is My Mind?" even more. "Into the white, the scent of fire behind. ![]()
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