I finally caught up with the highly acclaimed _Ida_. I had
expected it to be a letdown but was still disappointed.

There are many problems. Agata Trzebuchowska is *not* a good
actress, despite all undue the praise; she is so affectless
you start to wonder if she isn't a closet sociopath. Her
character is about to take a lifelong vow to become a nun,
but there is no sign that she is touched by divine grace or
revelation. Life at the convent is also depicted to be
miserable and petty by the filmmaker. Compare that with
Irene Jacob's inspired aspiring nun in _Beyond the Clouds_!
Or even the religious fanatic in _Agora_, who is the villain
but is still afforded his humanity and sense of humor. Some
critics compare the film to Bresson, but Bresson's "model"
in _Diary of a Country Priest_ is soulful, tortured, intensely
emotion, not a cipher. I am an ex-Catholic and atheist, and I
still find director Pawlikowski's depiction of religion overly
negative and vacant. (And he is supposed to be the practicing
Catholic).

The aunt character is much, much better. Agata Kulesza
imbues this disillusioned judge character with tremendous
pathos. Many reviewers (including Godfrey Cheshire!)
credits the film with evoking the real-life inspiration
for this judge, who was Helena Wolińska-Brus and enabled
the execution of many Polish resistance fighters. But none
of that is in the film; critics give _Ida_ far too much
credit. (The filmmaker misses the chance to compare
religious and communist indoctrination.) In fact, _Ida_
should be criticized for having a shallow narrative -- a
direct result of its stylistic defect.

For _Ida_ adheres to the rigid cinematic dogma espoused by
critics in the 2000s -- shalt use long takes, static camera,
no non-diegetic music. Long takes naturally detract from
depth. It is just simple math. If all your scenes are
at least 2-minute long, you only get 40 scenes in a film;
how much story can you tell? Worse, each scene is
dressed a little too cleanly, has too little detail as
a result. There is no lived-in feel, no life in the
cinematography, only a look-at-my-cleverness vanity.
The only time some life and warmth creep in is during the
sunlight graveyard scene.

Pawlikowski's subsequent _Cold War_ learned its lessons.
The scenes are much shorter, crisper. There are camera
movements -- not excessively, but enough to inject life
and vigor into the characters. They are real people,
have loves and desires, even if everything ends badly.
_Cold War_ also provides a panoramic view of post war
European history _Ida_ can only hint at (inadequately).
_Cold War_ is far less appreciated than _Ida_, but it is
an immeasurably better film, and an undisputed masterpiece.

(for A.)

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