COLD WAR
The winner of the coveted Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, COLD WAR offers an exquisitely realized love story that transcends a lifetime against the backdrop of postwar Eastern Europe.
Traversing the tumultuous terrain of a passionate love affair spanning decades and countries on each side of the 1950s political divide, the film follows Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), a musician working on a government project at the end of the ‘40s. As he scours the Polish countryside looking for folk-singers to join a cultural tour sponsored by the state, a spark that travels through the screen ignites as he locks eyes with the young and fiery Zula (Joanna Kulig), a singer with an energy and attitude that stands out amongst those chosen to represent the best and brightest of the nation. As they strike up a fierce yet utterly doomed romance, the years take their toll through a series of political turmoils and personal hardships. As they repeatedly separate under difficult circumstances, they seem forever tied to each other— the intensity of their ill-fated attraction refusing to fade despite their own incompatibility tearing them apart as the world around them darkens. Director Pawel Pawilowski has pulled off a miracle: crafting a grand epic that crackles with vitality, stripped down to its essentials and paced so tightly it moves with dizzying intoxication. The result is a treasure of a film that dazzles with each jaw-droppingly gorgeous frame.
CAST: Tomasz Kot, Joanna Kulig, Agata Kulesza, Jeanne Balibar
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