Every year, there are your highly anticipated superhero and action blockbusters, your Oscar films, the period and biographical dramas, your crime thrillers, and your romantic comedies. There also those hidden gems: those small films you haven’t heard much of. They sneak up on you and usually surprise you. These are the films I appreciate most. Sometimes they’re from another country, in another language. Ida, a 2013 Polish drama, from Pawel Pawlikowski is filmed in beautiful black and white with Pawlikowski using the now uncommon 4:3 aspect ratio for the film. Ida has the look and feel of an early 1960s film. The scenery is gorgeous and so are the shots; nearly every one could be a professional photograph. Pawlikowski’s sustained shots are most engaging. On numerous occasions, the director captures his actor’s facial expressions using unusually high camera angles, either being breast high on our characters while sitting down or closeup, halfway above the head. Ida draws you in from the opening shot of our protagonist, filmed closeup at shoulder length, applying finishing paintbrush touches on a sculpture of Jesus. I knew this film was going to be something special with the next few shots. Ida was honestly one of the most visually striking films I’ve seen, from the scenery to the black and white contrast. Lukasc Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski are rightfully recognized for their work as Ida was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 87th Academy Awards.
The film is simple enough to follow. It is 1962 Poland, and Anna, a young novice nun, is forced to put off taking her vows, when she is ordered by her prioress to visit her last living relative, her aunt. Her aunt, Wanda Gruz, is also a once-state-prosecutor turned judge and a heavy drinker. She informs Anna that her real name is Ida Lebenstein and her parents were Jews who were murdered in World War II. Wanda and Ida embark on a journey to find their resting place which sets up the rest of the film. Wanda picks up a young, saxophone playing, hitchhiker who clearly shows interest for Ida and vice versa. Ida discovers herself and her sexuality throughout the film and although a bad influence, is taught by Wanda, how to live. The film’s universal theme of losing one’s innocence is surely identifiable. Agata Trzebuchowska, a young woman with no prior acting experience (spotted by Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska in a cafe who informed her about Pawlikowski’s film), is stunning in her debut. She just has one of those faces you fall in love with. I sympathized with Ida throughout the film and that is largely because of Trzebuchowska’s performance. Agata Kulesza also knocks it out of the park with her performance. In a short running time of 82 minutes, Ida is remarkably dense; as well as beautiful and immersing and pleasurable. It’s a film that stuck with me for days and one that easily made its way onto my top ten of 2014.
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