Directed by: Marcel Łożiński
Every documentary filmmaker is entitled to rest his eyes after observing life at close quarters for many years. Instead of giving a tired look at Poland during the collapse of communism, Marcel Łożiński preferred to put his glasses aside for a while at the end of the 1980s. Soon after, the Parisian-born director ingeniously regained his vitality by filming reality through the eyes of his young son Tomasz.
In 89 mm od Europy (89mm from Europe, 1993), Tomasz is featured talking to a worker re-gauging train wheels at the Poland-Belarus border. Two years later, Tomasz appeared again in the Academy Award-nominated Wszystko może się przytrafić (Anything Can Happen, 1995). In this movie, Łożiński limited himself to filming his then six-year old son engaging in conversation with senior citizens lining the benches of Warsaw’s Łazienki Park.
The essential topics of love, solitude, separation are presented through a series of questions that were partly scripted by Łożiński but mostly spontaneous. The conversations are combined with footage of Tomasz riding his scooter and of a peacock symbolising the transience of earthly pleasures.
The old folks lose their reticence in front of a child, allowing Łożiński to portray people with a degree of humanity rarely achievable in feature films. In A gdyby tak się stało (If it Happens, 2007), a now grown-up Tomasz makes another appearance in the same park, bitterly reflecting on his childhood and its visual representation.
Originally published by The Krakow Post on February 1, 2013