Starring: Magdalena Berus, Jakub Gierszał, Ángela Molina, Andrzej Chyra
Directed by: Jacek Borcuch
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Having had two features films in a row selected in competition at the Sundance Film Festival certainly represent an important achievement for Jacek Borcuch. In Nieulotne (Lasting, 2012) the Polish cinéaste returns to the big screen with a tale of youthful disenchantment, this time restricting the field to a dense love story between two seasonal workers Michał (Jakub Gierszał) and Karina (Magdalena Berus) set in relatively exotic Spain.
Borcuch directs the delicately chiselled and vital bodies of Gierszał and Berus immersed in bucolic scenery to the best of his considerable abilities. The cast is completed by local stars Juan José Ballesta and Ángela Molina, the latter having also appeared in the disastrous Polish-Italian historical drama September Eleven 1683 (2012).
The plot of Lasting takes a sudden twist with the unsettling appearance of Krakow’s “Szkieletor” tower, dumping the audience back into Polish reality. Cinematographer Michał Englert, capitalises on natural light, both in sun-drenched Spain and a less-than-sunny Krakow. The director doesn’t dissect the feelings of the protagonists with psychology, instead opting to simply show their physiological highs and lows.
In his third feature, Borcuch also touches on the topic of unplanned pregnancy, which sours the couple’s emotional life. As with the characters in Wszystko co kocham (All That I love, 2010), Michał and Karina are dreamers who can’t quite make it back to Earth, instead remaining in a limbo between the world of youth and that of adults.
Originally published by The Krakow Post on March 1, 2013