Review: A majestic example of the cinematic art form at its finest.
One of the most unique and powerful elements of cinema as an artform are the images that will forever live in our minds. Cold War offers these images in abundance. Looking at Lukasz Zal's brilliant black and white cinematography, it almost feels like a shame that most modern filmmakers have abandoned black and white. This movie certainly shows that black and white is just as powerful today as it was when it was the norm. It is impossible to imagine this movie in color and in color it certainly would lose a lot. Images that will forever haunt my mind include the above image, Zula (Joanna Kulig) floating through the water with more of her going under little by little, Zula dancing on the bar (which in no doubt was somewhat of a tribute to Jean Luc Goddard's Bande a Part (1964)), a scene in an abandoned church and the final image. However these perfect images do not represent any abnormality, the whole film is perfectly composed visually. Each image is extremely atmospheric adding to an underlying sense of loneliness and tragedy.
Auditorily this movie is equal perfect. The use of music is one of the finest in any movie to come out in recent years (okay... I have not seen every single movie of recent years but out of the ones I have seen). The music used here is extremely varied. It ranges from Polish folk songs to American jazz to classical music from old masters like Chopin and Bach to Bill Haley and His Comets (in a scene that will go down as the ultimate cinematic usage of Rock Around the Clock). Even with the huge difference between musical styles each is used perfectly, adding to the atmospheric and emotional power of each scene. Just as one can not imagine this film in color, one can also not imagine this with any different music. Both are such a part of this film that they can not be separated.
None of this is to say this movie is all style and no substance. The story is often heartbreakingly tragic, yet beautiful at the same time. Our two lovers, whose chances at romance are constantly dashed by the cruel hand of fate, are completely real to us and it was impossible for me not to feel an emotional connection to them. Adding to this definitely was Kulig's brilliantly powerful and human performance as Zula. This was a performance with not a single false note. It is also worth stating that much of the style enhances the story and characters rather than distracts from them. In fact much of the visual beauty and uses of music tell us more about these characters than many movies can do with dialogue.
It seems like it would have been impossible for Polish director, Pawel Pawlikowski to make a movie that wouldn't have seemed like a letdown after his last movie, Ida (2013). However with Cold War he perfectly conducts a film that doesn't let fans of that brilliant work of art down.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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