Das Kleid

Greetings again from the darkness. For lonely folks, the dream of companionship is ever-present. Wondering if the right person will ever come along is a weighty burden to carry, and it's one that Julka has toted her entire life. Writer-director Tadeusz Lysiak and lead actor Anna Dieduszycka only need 29 minutes in this short film to convey the hope and pain that accompanies loneliness.

Ms. Dieduszycka gives a strong performance, and her dwarfism comes into play as Julka, a cleaning lady at a truck stop motel. Julka rarely smiles and only speaks when her co-worker and lone friend Renata (Dorota Pomykala) talks to her. Otherwise Julka is all about smoking and slot machines ... at least while she's not fantasizing about being "normal" and having true romance that leads to the loss of her virginity.

A truck driver named Bogdan (Szymon Piotr Warszawski) shows some legitimate interest in getting to know her better, and Julka's excitement mirrors that of a schoolgirl. Filmmaker Lysiak places Julka in a situation that seems to be her ideal romantic encounter - a sure sign that life rarely allows these moments to play out as we hope, which ironically, provides her with a taste of the downside of normalcy. The film is from Poland, and it earned the honor of being Oscar nominated.

"The Dress" may be only 30 minutes, yet it pack more heart and punch in that time than most full length films. Julia, a virgin dwarf who works in a Polish road side truck stops, is lonely until a 'normal' trucker, Bogdan, strikes up a conversation with her that seems to be more than the usual put downs she has to deal with. The rest must be seen to appreciate the films depth. It's just great.

I'm so disappointed because up until the last five minutes i was going to give this movie like 9 maybe even 10. I was engaging, I loved that the film maker took a subject that isn't spoke about and shown it in a way that humanises people with dwarfism. I know what a crazy thought. But normally characters like this are relegated to jokes and parodies so it was lovely to see that this film was so human.

The romance and hope I was all in! I was just so happy and like invested but then the movie decided to completely implode on its self and destroy everything it spent the past 20 minutes building.

It was crushing. Which might have been the directors idea which is why I still liked this short. It was just so painful and chastising. It would have been lovely to end on hope.

The Dress is a short film in which Julka, a hotel maid with dwarfism, longs for romance, or at least a sexual experience. Julka has dealt with cruelty from strangers, and can be a little defensive about her size, but is capable of friendliness and soon attracts the interest of a truck-driving hotel guest. Things don't go as well as we hoped (actually, pretty awfully), and it would be interesting to know how this affects Julka, but unfortunately the filmmakers already used up the entire running time of the film with things that aren't very interesting.