User reviews

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This is a viewer-as-observer movie. We don't even know the names of the characters: Old Man, Young Woman (his daughter) and Child (her son, a few months old). As the movie progresses we learn a few things about the three. They live close to poverty in a small, run-down house without any amenities except for a radio. Old Man does a menial job in a large factory, Young Woman is an inexpert but not uncaring single mother, apparently without a job. Old Man is being treated for an unspecified disease, and looks frail. The camera follows the characters without visual comment, except for a few scenes. One is an iterated circular shot (that may imply the oppressive monotony of the urban landscape), another is the factory running in reverse (steam gets into the machines rather than out of) and a shot at the end where food is spilled.

This may not sound as the stuff from which movies are made, but the film catches your attention from the beginning and doesn't let go. There are a few moving scenes, such as one where Child enjoys a moment of bliss in a warm bath in the arms of Old Man.

The translation of the Polish title Huba to "parasite" seems dubious, unless a play on words. Huba denotes a special type of tree parasite (a fungus) but is also the name of a village in the district of Malopolskie (Small or Lesser Poland), in the border with Slovakia. The credits state that the filming was done in Moscice and Tarnów, both in Malopolskie.

Direction is credited to the couple Anna and Wilhelm Sasnal. Wilhelm is an artist known for for his painting, drawings, photographs and videos. This is their fourth feature film (counting a documentary).