Cold War: Pawel Pawilkowski's Beautiful Meditation on a Complex Relationship
By: Keaton Marcus
After watching Cold War, one thing is for certain, director Pawel Pawlikowski is a true visionary and an artist. Immediately climbing to the upper echelon of promising filmmakers after making his directorial debut with Ida, he earned some instant critical acclaim. His follow-up feature starring Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot is a near-masterpiece with some of the best cinematography I have ever seen. It wasn’t only gorgeous, but the filmmaking made me appreciate black-and-white coupled with a 1.37:1 aspect ratio even more than The Lighthouse.
Principally, this film is about a forbidden romantic relationship. We follow Zula (Kulig), an aspiring musician, who meets Wiktor (Kot), and the two completely fall in love, utterly attached to each other despite their different personalities and backgrounds. They begin an almost impossible romance set in the backdrop of post-war, 1950s Poland against all odds. The film spans over practically a decade chronicling the ups and downs of their relationship, and it is nothing less than beautiful to witness.
Before I get into any issues I had with this film, there’s a whole lot of incredible things about it to write about first. Starting it off would have to be the performances. Although not my favorite aspect, Joanna Kulig gives an effortlessly Oscar-worthy performance, and I would easily give her the nomination for Best Actress. She captivates on-screen with her sexiness, talent, and mesmerizing voice that has your eyes glued to the screen the entire time. Tomasz Kot is more of a supporting role, and the film doesn’t explore his character as much, but for what he’s given, the actor does a very fine job. Kulig is clearly more of a standout, but their chemistry together is where the true magic happens. They are funny, emotional, and authentic together and it’s really impressive to watch.
Secondly, the cinematography must have been done by God, because oh my Lord, this movie should not be allowed to look this magnificent. All joking aside, this was photographed masterfully by Łukasz Żal who brings such intimacy and aesthetic perfection into it all. The stark contrasts with the black and white along with the incredible use of close-ups really stood out for me. This has to be one of the best-looking movies I have ever seen. But the best thing about it is that it has the perfect balance of style and substance, a rare thing achieved in cinema.
Finally, the direction by Pawlikowski has to be my favorite aspect that I will discuss in the review. He creates such an authentic, real, and raw feel to it all in this very unconventional approach to the romance genre. It isn’t as magnificent or thematically rich as Portrait of a Lady on Fire for example, but it sure has its own merits. For one, the music clearly represents love, and I had an emotional connection to the two main characters which was a total win for me. The film is also dedicated to Pawlikowski’s parents, who supposedly also had a turbulent relationship. I don’t know if it ended in tragedy or not, but this fictional relationship sure does, and it hits hard. Overall, this clearly very talented filmmaker knows how to tell the difficult tale of a troubled romance better than Noah Baumbach does, and their suicidal ending is possibly the most tear-jerking thing I’ve seen in a while. In terms of problems, the pacing got a little mediocre in places and dragged especially in the second act. I also feel that because of its brief running time, the set-up to their relationship felt rushed and I didn’t feel as emotionally invested at the start, unfortunately. Lastly, I felt that Kot’s character could have been explored deeper than he was. His entire personality was a mystery, which is cool and interesting at the start, but by the finish, we still don’t know a thing about him! Otherwise, this is absolute perfection, and I’ve got to see Ida sometime soon. Yeah, I know I’m stupid for watching this first, but whatever.