Little Moscow (Mala Moskwa) is the opening film of the QFT’s current Polish film festival – Kinoteka On Tour 4. Directed by Waldemar Krzystek, it’s the story of marital infidelity and troubled occupation in Legnica, the Soviet headquarters in Poland between 1945 and 1990, known as ‘Little Moscow’. Wiera (Svetlana Khodchenkova), the beautiful wife of Russian commander Jura (Dmitri Ulyanov), isn’t in Legnica long before she is wooed by Polish officer Michal (Leslaw Zurek). The affair has unfortunate consequences, flying in the face of the awkward Russian-Polish relations, which emphasize acceptance but not fraternization.
BY MATTHEW MCKERNAN
www.queensfilmtheatre.org.uk
With the Oscars less than a fortnight away, audiences must exercise caution when choosing a film to go and see. Oscar dramas are a tricky class of film. Taking as an example last year’s Oscar race, for every ‘Gran Torino’ and ‘Frost/ Nixon’ there was a ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ or ‘The Reader’. If you’re lucky, you could get something moving and riveting. If unlucky, however, you might end up with a dull movie with terrible Oscar clips (the scenes in which venerable actors give loud and annoying bravura performances), which merely serve to startle you back into lucidity. The Last Station, oddly enough, falls between these two stools.
‘Adoration’ is the new film by Canadian-Armenian auteur Atom Egoyan, a director held in high regard by the art house crowd. His latest is a puzzle box of a movie that looks at terrorism with a complex and thought-provoking approach. It tells the story of Simon, a student, raising a kerfuffle when he presents the tale of a botched act of terrorism as the work of his own father. Egged on by Sabine, his French teacher, he develops the story, which spreads across the internet. Opinions get more and more reactionary and the situation soon spirals out of control.
The new film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, of ‘Delicatessen’ and ‘Amelie’ fame, features quirky comedy, a plethora of weird characters and a political message. Through its comedic story, we are introduced to the homeless Bazil (Dany Boon), who takes revenge against two warring arms traders, both inadvertently responsible for his troubled existence. One produced the mine that killed his father; the other produced the bullet now lodged in Bazil’s brain. Assisting him in his seemingly futile mission is a diverse group of seven second-hand dealers, the “Micmacs”, each with a unique talent.