Post by nancy on May 28, 2006 9:02:23 GMT -7
Kieslowski's peak hits in mid-`Decalogue'
By Michael Wilmington
Tribune movie critic
Chicago Tribune
Published May 12, 2006
One of the great cinematic achievements of our time is Krzysztof
Kieslowski's magnificent "The Decalogue," a 10-part anthology shot for Polish TV in 1988. It's set in a Warsaw apartment complex, with each episode illustrating one of the Ten Commandments. Kieslowski and screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, two aesthetic-philosophical dissidents who witnessed Poland's transition from communism to democracy, created a masterful film that's both moving drama and profound moral inquiry.
The peak of the series came with Decalogue No. 5 ("Thou shalt not kill") and No. 6 ("Thou shalt not commit adultery"). In "Kill," a
seemingly psychopathic young drifter-killer from the provinces, his
brutal cab driver victim and the lawyer who will argue his capital case in court cross paths on two days of death: the murder and the execution. It's a great film about killing, capital punishment and their consequences.
"Adultery" is a hypnotic "Rear Window"-style study of voyeurism
involving a bizarre non-physical "affair" between a "loose" woman and the shy young man who watches her, unseen, from across the courtyard.
Both films were lengthened by Kieslowski into the superb features "A Short Film About Killing" and "A Short Film About Love."
By Michael Wilmington
Tribune movie critic
Chicago Tribune
Published May 12, 2006
One of the great cinematic achievements of our time is Krzysztof
Kieslowski's magnificent "The Decalogue," a 10-part anthology shot for Polish TV in 1988. It's set in a Warsaw apartment complex, with each episode illustrating one of the Ten Commandments. Kieslowski and screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, two aesthetic-philosophical dissidents who witnessed Poland's transition from communism to democracy, created a masterful film that's both moving drama and profound moral inquiry.
The peak of the series came with Decalogue No. 5 ("Thou shalt not kill") and No. 6 ("Thou shalt not commit adultery"). In "Kill," a
seemingly psychopathic young drifter-killer from the provinces, his
brutal cab driver victim and the lawyer who will argue his capital case in court cross paths on two days of death: the murder and the execution. It's a great film about killing, capital punishment and their consequences.
"Adultery" is a hypnotic "Rear Window"-style study of voyeurism
involving a bizarre non-physical "affair" between a "loose" woman and the shy young man who watches her, unseen, from across the courtyard.
Both films were lengthened by Kieslowski into the superb features "A Short Film About Killing" and "A Short Film About Love."