Ida
(2014)
Poland, early '60s, Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska), days away from taking her vows, is shipped off by her Mother Superior to be nanny to the children of a widowed baron--oh, wait, no, that's not right--to meet her only living relative, a cynical aunt (Agata Kulesza) who had refused to take her in when she was orphaned and is now an alcoholic, sexually indiscriminate judge for the Communist state.
It becomes a journey of discovery--that she is Jewish, that her name is Ida, that her parents were murdered in the war, that the circumstances of their death might be discoverable, and that that vow of chastity might be a lot bigger sacrifice than she'd ever dreamed before she heard Coltrane.
The second of three films I'm seeing this weekend from my list of top five missed last year, and I have no hesitation labeling this one extraordinary. I'm usually oblivious to technical matters, but watch how Ida migrates from the corners of the squarish black-and-white frame to the center as she migrates from the periphery of consciousness to the center of her self. A gem, beautiful in every way.
It becomes a journey of discovery--that she is Jewish, that her name is Ida, that her parents were murdered in the war, that the circumstances of their death might be discoverable, and that that vow of chastity might be a lot bigger sacrifice than she'd ever dreamed before she heard Coltrane.
The second of three films I'm seeing this weekend from my list of top five missed last year, and I have no hesitation labeling this one extraordinary. I'm usually oblivious to technical matters, but watch how Ida migrates from the corners of the squarish black-and-white frame to the center as she migrates from the periphery of consciousness to the center of her self. A gem, beautiful in every way.
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