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Krzysztof Kieślowski's magnum opus for Polish Television is a transcendent 'cycle' of moral tales, each based on one of the Ten Commandments. But sometimes it's difficult to get the connection -- these brilliant mini-movies are pretty tricky. Dekalog Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 837 1988 / Color / 1:33 flat full frame; 1:70 widescreen / 583 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 27, 2016 / 99.95 Starring Aleksander Bardini, Janusz Gajos, Krystyna Janda, Bugoslaw Linda, Daniel Olbrychski many others. Cinematography Witold Adamek, Jacek Blawut, Slavomir Idziak, Andrzej Jaroszewicz, Edward Klosinski, Dariusz Kuc, Krzysztof Pakulski, Piotr Sobocinski, Wieslaw Zdort Film Editor Ewa Smal Original Music Zbigniew Preisner Written by Krzysztof Kieślowski, Krzysztof Plesiewicz Produced by Ryszard Chutkowski Directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Back in the early 1990s I believe my first access to Polish director Krzystof Kieślowski was a laserdisc of his film The Double Life of Veronique. I also remember a big reaction in 1996 when...

The roles have been reversed for Julia Brystygier (Maria Mamona), the once powerful colonel in the Ussr’s Ministry. She interrogated countless enemies of the state, namely Catholics who rejected the communist concepts ruling them. The human body was her canvas, torture her paintbrush — nothing was out of bounds as far as acquiring the information she sought. But that was years ago. Now she’s a private citizen like the masses trying to survive. A lucky one too considering many of her superiors during that period are now in jail or dead for the crimes they committed. Julia’s prison is therefore self-imposed. Where confidence and control used to reside is now only fear, guilt, and regret. Her solitary hope for salvation becomes forgiveness from a God she doesn’t believe exists.

Ryszard Bugajski‘s Zacma: Blindness opens on an empty apartment, phone incessantly ringing to cut through the silence.

Malgorzata Szumowska's previous films (Elles, In the Name Of) have looked at the conflict between mind and body, in a darkly serious tone. In her latest film Body (which won the Silver Bear for Best Director at Berlinale), she again looks to how mind and body interact, but with a decidely comic tone, though it's still a dark one. It's a rather absurdist look at how three connected people deal with death and grief, told with intimacy and engaging characters.A prosecuting attorney (Janusz Gajos) visits the sites where various citizens of Warsaw have died, either by their own hand or someone else's, and in the meantime, lives with and tried to help his daughter Olga (Justyna Suwala). Olga suffers from anorexia, and her mental state...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

After the initial slate for the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival was announced last month there were many observers, including this pundit, who wondered of the annual September event had once again lost the battle of premieres to its Fall festival cousins. While debuting Ridley Scott's "The Martian," Jean Marc Valle's "Demolition" and Michael Moore's "Where Do We Invade Next" is nothing to sneeze at the fact some of the most anticipated films of the year are heading to Venice and Telluride first has to be a bit disheartening. Especially when it's your 40th anniversary. Never fear fans of the Great White North, Toronto always seems to land some eyebrow raising last minute additions and this year is no different. Today Tiff announced that David Gordon Green's "Our Brand Is Crisis" with Sandra Bullock, Marc Abraham's "I Saw The Light" with Tom Hiddleston, Catherine Hardwicke's "Miss You Already...

The Toronto International Film Festival has added 5 Galas and 19 Special Presentations to its huge and highly anticipated international lineup including the Closing Night Film, Paco Cabezas’s Mr. Right.

In July, it was announced that Jean-Marc Vallée’s Demolition will open the 2015 Festival. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper and Judah Lewis, Demolition will have its world premiere on September 10 at Roy Thomson Hall.

Toronto audiences will be among the first to screen films by directors Ridley Scott, Deepa Mehta, Lenny Abrahamson, Brian Helgeland, Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, Jason Bateman, Cary Fukunaga, Catherine Corsini, Stephen Frears, Tom Hooper, Hany Abu-Assad, Meghna Gulzar, Terence Davies, Jonás Cuarón, Julie Delpy, Rebecca Miller, Rob Reiner, Catherine Hardwicke, Pan Nalin, Lorene Scafaria, David Gordon Green, Matthew Cullen, Gaby Dellal, James Vanderbilt and Marc Abraham.

The various films listed below star Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Susan Sarandon, Gary Oldman, Toni Collette, Drew Barrymore,...

Ivan Ostrochovský’s boxer drama Goat (Koza) has been named Best Film at the 20th Vilnius International Film Festival.

The film, which had its world premiere in the Berlinale’s Panorama section in February, won the ¨New Europe - New Names¨ competition at the festival, which ran from March 19 to April 2.

The film, about a former Olympic boxer who goes on a punishing ‘tour’ to raise some fast cash, also took home the Cicae Art Cinema Award.

Goat (Koza), which won the works in progress prize at last year’s Karlovy Vary, is handled internationally by fledgling sales company Pluto Film.

The ¨New Europe - New Names¨ jury, which included Chilean director Cristián Jiménez, Israeli actress Hadas Yaron, and Romanian actor Vlad Ivanov, gave its award for Best Director to Ukraine’s Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy for The Tribe and its acting honours to Hungary’s Márton Kristóf (Afterlife) and Bulgaria’s Margita Gosheva (The Lesson).

Meanwhile, the Baltic...

With only a few weeks to go until the Berlin Film Festival unspools, much of the competition lineup still remains a mystery. However, today has added some clarity with several titles unveiled. Among them, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s latest effort. The director, who is under house arrest and a 20-year filmmaking ban, nevertheless manages to get a movie out every couple of years. His last, Closed Curtain, stirred up controversy in Iran when it won the screenwriting prize in Berlin in 2013. This latest film, Taxi, stars the director, although other details were not immediately available.

Also in the mix is the world premiere, out of competition, of Bill Condon’s Mr. Holmes, starring Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Hiroyuki Sanada and Hattie Morahan. McKellen plays the titular detective as he nears the end of his days and revisits an unsolved case which forced him into retirement.

Werner Herzog...

Queen of the Desert, starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Pattinson, added to Berlinale competition line-up; Mr. Holmes, starring Ian McKellen as an aged Sherlock, to play out of competition.

The 65th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 5-15) has added a further eight titles to its Competition programme, ahead of the complete line-up next week.

The films, which originate from across Europe, Asia, the Us and the Middle East, include the world premiere of Queen of the Desert, Werner Herzog’s biopic based on the life of British explorer Gertrude Bell.

Nicole Kidman plays the 19th century explorer, known as the female Lawrence of Arabia, and her co-stars include James Franco, Damian Lewis and Robert Pattinson (as Te Lawrence).

Berlinale 2015: new Competition films

Body

Poland

By Malgorzata Szumowska (Stranger, Elles, In the Name of)

With Janusz Gajos, Maja Ostaszewska, Justyna Suwala

World premiere

Cha và con và (Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories)

Vietnam / France / Germany...

Sebastian Schipper, Werner Herzog, Benoit Jacquot and Further Titles Added to the Selection

Another eight films have been selected for the Competition Programme of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

The productions are from the following countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Hong Kong/China, Iran, the People’s Republic of China, Poland, the USA, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.

Body

Poland

By Malgorzata Szumowska (Stranger, Elles, In the Name of)

With Janusz Gajos, Maja Ostaszewska, Justyna Suwala

World premiere

Cha và con và (Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories)

Vietnam / France / Germany / Netherlands

By Di Phan Dang (Bi, Don’t Be Afraid)

With Do Thi Hai Yen, Le Cong Hoang, Truong The Vinh

World premiere

Journal d’une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid)

France / Belgium

By Benoit Jacquot (Farewell, My Queen; Three Hearts)

With Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Clotilde Mollet, Hervé Pierre, Vincent Lacoste

World premiere

Mr. Holmes

United Kingdom

By Bill Condon (The Fifth Estate)

With...

Other projects supported by Romania’s film fund include Cristian Mungiu’s Rmd and Tudor Giurgiu’s Apropierea.

Romania’s Centrul National al Cinematografiei (Cnc) has become the latest European film fund to be raided by the ubiquitous film-maker Peter Greenaway for a future project.

Greenaway’s Walking To Paris (Mergand Spre Paris), which is being structured as a co-production between his regular producer Kees Kasander’s UK-based Cinatura, Switzerland’s Cobra Film, France’s Cdp Productions and Romania’s Abis Studio, received 291,000 Ron (€65,000) in the results of the 2013 call for projects.

Walking To Paris centres on the 27-year-old Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi who set off a month-long trek across Europe from Romania to Paris in 1903, and will show how Brancusi’s fight for survival and many adventures during his journey influenced his subsequent work.

Greenaway had previously accessed the Croatian Audiovisual Centre for Goltzius And The Pelican Company and the Polish Film Institute for Nightwatching, while...