Directed by: Emi Buchwald
Starring: Bartłomiej Deklewa, Izabella Dudziak, Tymoteusz Rożynek, Karolina Rzepa
Rating: ★★★★☆
Intimate, female-driven stories about family relationships may finally be gaining real visibility in Polish cinema. Emi Buchwald’s Nie ma duchów w mieszkaniu na Dobrej (No Ghosts on Good Street, 2025) strengthens this impression, following the direction hinted at by Monika Majorek’s Where Do We Begin. Unlike Majorek, however, Buchwald keeps the parents of her Gen Z characters entirely off-screen.
Although her style hints at a belated influence of American mumblecore, Buchwald charts her own course. Warsaw is not New York, and nothing in her debut feature feels improvised. The film is made with limited resources, but every detail, including the striking violet-blue title cards that punctuate the narrative which reflects careful craftsmanship.
Buchwald grew up in Skierniewice, a modest town between Łódź and Warsaw, in a large family. No Ghosts on Good Street revolves around four young adults in Warsaw who seem bound by an invisible umbilical cord. Jana, the eldest, is preparing an art exhibition shaped by their shared history; Nastka is attempting to define her own path; Franek is trying to extricate himself from a toxic relationship and his family’s emotional grip; and the youngest, Benek, suffers panic attacks as he tries to understand his brother’s sudden distance.
Their dynamic is enriched by the appearance of a dusiołek, a mischievous spirit from Polish folklore, drawn from the writings of Bolesław Leśmian. Said to appear in nightmares, perched on a dreamer’s chest, it enters the film with surprising delicacy. As in Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s cinema, the supernatural presence doesn’t aim to frighten but to add a layer of quiet spirituality.
The film’s reception at the 50th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia — where it won three awards, including Best Director — marked Buchwald as a significant new voice. Beating high-profile biopics like Agnieszka Holland’s Franz Kafka and Michał Kwieciński’s Chopin, Chopin, No Ghosts on Good Street feels like a signal of renewal in Polish cinema. Buchwald’s cinematic effort radiates, in every frame, the confidence young creators place in the healing power of art.
Film Reviewed by Giuseppe Sedia
Published by Kino Mania on March 6, 2026