Directed by: Paweł Łoziński
Rating: ★★★★☆
For the avoidance of doubt, Paweł Łoziński did not make virtue out of necessity when he embarked in the making of Film balkonowy (The Balcony Movie). The project was born two years ahead of the pandemic-imposed lockdowns. The Balcony Movie it is all but the pastime of a boisterous documentarist that is not allowed to leave his flat. Actually, after deciding to follow in his father’s footsteps, Marcel, Łoziński Junior has always displayed an exuberant personality.
Unlike his parent, whose discerning power of observation will be remembered for decades in the documentary milieu, Łoziński Jr is more a partaker than an observer with a penchant for accosting people with the camera at work. Not that Łoziński Sr has lacked proactivity towards the subjects of his films through his career — in Wszystko może się przytrafić (Anything Can Happen, 1995), considered by many his masterstroke as a documentarist, Łoziński Sr raises fundamental questions the nature and purpose of life putting them in the mouth of Tomasz, his 6-year old at that time son, as well as Pawel’s brother.
In a way, the title chosen for The Balcony Movie, says it all about Łoziński the elder’s film, which successfully premiered at the Locarno film festival. Undoubtedly, it is a spontaneous and low-key work. The director does not do anything in particular to conceal the pole of the microphone used to interview the passers-by intercepted from the terrace of his apartment in Warsaw. Symbolically, the pole could be the scepter that, now as never before, the modern era’s king of Polish documentary film, deserves to hold firmly.
To get the small talks right is all but superhuman effort for Łoziński Jr. The viewer is almost immediately left with the impression that the Polish documentarist masters the craft of breaking the ice between himself and the casual individuals passing by under his balcony. Most importantly, he never seems to look down on his subjects despite being physically above them. As usually Łoziński Jr is full empathy and is at ease with asking several why’s in a row to the film’s participants, but without sounding too invasive.
No matter what is discussed, the films functions magnificently as a cordial, devoid of embellishments, open air confessional, that entertains the viewer for about 100 minutes. Not surprisingly, Łoziński Jr won the Critics Week Award in Locarno for The Balcony Movie
Film Reviewed by Giuseppe Sedia
Published by Kino Mania on July 24, 2023