Cold War [Zimna wojna] **** (2018, Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Agata Kulesza, Cédric Kahn) – Movie Review

Writer-director Pawel Pawlikowski’s beautiful, passionate 2018 romantic drama Cold War [Zimna wojna] is a doomed love story about two mismatched people, set in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris against the background of the Fifties Cold War. It is a complex saga with music, spanning a decade, but Pawlikowski pulls it all in in just 88 minutes.

The acting by Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot as Zula and Wiktor, direction, cinematography (by Lukasz Zal) in narrow screen monochrome, music (Polish folk music and French jazz) and writing are all superb and faultless. Visually and emotionally, it is a lovely art work, though it is on the wrist-slashing side. Also notable in the cast are Borys Szyc, Agata Kulesza, and Cédric Kahn.

Pawlikowski won the Best Director award for his imaginative, emotional and sensitive masterwork at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a standing ovation of 18 minutes but still failed to win the Palme D’Or. Cold War is the official submission of Poland for the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 91st Academy Awards in 2019. His previous film Ida (2013) won the 2015 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year.

It is in part a personally felt saga for Pawlikowski. The main characters are loosely based on the creators of the renowned Polish folk dance group Zespól Piesni i Tanca Mazowsze, Tadeusz Sygietynski and Mira Ziminska. But Cold War is dedicated to Pawlikowski’s parents, who have the same name as the main characters, so we can presume that it is also at least partly based on their lives. The central turbulent relationship is inspired by the stormy story of director’s parents, who also broke up and got together again a couple of times, and also moved from one country to another.

All the jazz numbers are arranged by Marcin Masecki, who performs the piano parts. 

Cold War was named Best European Film of 2018 at the European Film Awards on 15 December 2018 in Seville, Spain. It also won awards for its director, screenplay, lead actress (Joanna Kulig) and editor.

Cold War was nominated for five London Critics Circle Film Awards (2019), and won Foreign Language Film of the Year and the Technical Achievement of the Year for Lukasz Zal (cinematography).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

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