OK, this story takes place only partly in Poland and across more than a decade. Wiktor is a music director rapidly smitten with a vigorous younger singer, Zula. The main hangup between them comes in the form of politics: While neither is fond of the communist regime, Zula prefers her homeland to France, Germany, or Yugoslavia. She marries another man and Wiktor takes up with another singer, but Zula and Wiktor still have feelings for each other. Both their lives get messy.
Sparse synopsis, right? B&W, drama, R rating, Best Foreign Language Film nomination, and 2018 release aren't its only commonalities with Roma. It takes a while for much of a plot to materialize, and even afterward, there's a reason I had to search pretty hard for reminders of what happens.
Another commonality is that the auteur took inspiration from familial reality. Wiktor and Zula are named after his parents, who also had an off-and-on relationship and moved around during the Cold War. That said, their roles are based more on a pair of famous folk dance troupe founders.
To me, the best thing about CW is the soundtrack. "Dwa serduszka, cztery oczy," the most frequent number, is pretty haunting on its own. The rest is eclectic, crossing languages, genres, and sometimes eras.
On the basis of length and music, I was prepared to voice a preference for CW over Roma, but the positive vibes didn't last. CW seems to lack rhythm for pacing and emotion. My parents and most of the Meetup group we went with didn't care for the ending, tho at least it was artistic and generated discussion on why it happened so.
Fans like it for capturing the dreary heartbreak common to the setting. I might have felt the same if it focused more on details, perhaps taking place over a shorter period, and opted for a more hopeful final note. As it is, I think Pawlikowski should branch out.
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