Best Polish Movies

Last year, above all, the Polish cinematography belonged to master Jerzy Skolimowski and his EO (here the j:mag review in French), as well as to the documentarians. Bogna Kowalczyk (Boylesque), Natalia Koryncka-Gruz (Simona), Anna Zakrzewska and Łukasz Ronduda (Lot), Lidia Duda (The Fledglings) and Marek Kozakiewicz (Silent Love) are just some of the names worth mentioning. In 2023, two titles were given the most attention, the first of which was The Peasants, an animated adaptation of Władysław Reymont’s novel that won him the Nobel Literary Prize in 1924. The movie, directed by DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman, similarly to their 2017 film, Loving Vincent (here the j:mag audio interview in English of Hugh Welchman), is made using a unique technique of putting static paintings in motion. It also became the official Polish submission in numerous categories of the 96th Academy Awards  (Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Animated Feature Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Score for Łukasz L.U.C. Rostkowski and Best Original Song for The End of Summer). The second movie was The Green Border by Agnieszka Holland, which became the winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, where it also had its world premiere. It depicts the migration crisis on the Polish border with Belarus. However, I won’t discuss any of them here for at least three reasons. Foremost, enough space was devoted to them in the foreign press. Secondly, both have too many issues which don’t make me want to see them again (I mean, ever). And last but not least, there are some titles that are far better (and less obvious) and should be given more praise. (…)