Dom zly (The Dark House) - Wojciech Smarzowski

è il secondo film che vedo di Wojciech Smarzowski, che si conferma un bravissimo regista.
anche qui il tragico e l'abisso sono lì in attesa, e ci si cade come se fosse naturale.
la sceneggiatura è senza pietà, si alternano gli eventi del 1978 e quelli del 1982, qualcuno deve pagare, di qualcuno ci si vendica, c'è qualche esecuzione, una Polonia terribile, quella di quegli anni.
lo sconosciuto che chiede aiuto e non finisce bene è un topos che si ripete anche in "Calvaire"e in "Wolf Creek" (mi vengono in mente questi due film), e "Dom zly" non è da meno.
un gran bel film, non per tutti - Ismaele 

Narrato con continui salti temporali fra passato e presente, “The Dark House” appartiene a quel cinema polacco contemporaneo che ultimamente sta producendo cose parecchio interessanti (“Katyn”, per esempio). Ambientato in uno dei periodi più bui della storia recente del Paese, vede un agronomo la cui vita sta andando piano piano allo sfacelo trovarsi per caso a dover passare una notte in una modesta casa di campagna, senza sospettare quel che sembra un innocuo incontro terminerà in tragedia. Molto interessante la storia e il modo in cui è stata raccontata; eccezionale la fotografia. Molto bello.

da qui

…Set in a remote village in the Bieszczady mountains, the two story strands are united in the person of Edward Srodon (Arkadiusz Jakubik), an ill-fated government farm technician who stumbles into the isolated home of grizzled farmer Zdzislaw Dziabas (Marian Dziedziel) and his much younger wife, Bozena (Kinga Preis), on a stormy autumn night in 1978. Although the atmospheric visuals provide clues that all may not be what it seems, ample booze helps dispel anxieties, as Edward and Zdzislaw make plans to cooperate on an illegal venture selling moonshine.

In the parallel strand, Edward returns to the Dziabias’ homestead in the dead of winter, along with the local militia and the state prosecutor, who consider Edward the prime suspect in the heinous murders committed four years earlier. As lead investigator Lt. Mroz (Bartlomiej Topa) tries to reconstruct the events, it soon becomes clear that uncovering the truth is immaterial to his superiors, as they are trying to hide a number of other crimes.

Reportedly 12 years in the works, the densely detailed screenplay, co-written by Smarzowski and Lukasz Kosmicki, contains echoes of Greek tragedy, folk legend and classic crime films (especially “The Postman Always Rings Twice”). While the senseless violence and snowy locations (plus one pregnant cop) may invite superficial comparisons to “Fargo,” the nihilistic mood and unreliable narrators make “The Dark House” feel more akin to the work of Jim Thompson.

Smarzowski draws intense, nuanced, naturalistic performances from his large ensemble cast, many of them veterans of “The Wedding.” As in that film, he demonstrates an astute understanding of pacing and a dab hand at portraying human grotesqueries.

With the 1978 scenes shot at night, in the fall, during a hellacious downpour, and the 1982 scenes shot in the cruel daylight of icy winter, the intercut sequences are easy to tell apart, and provide an elemental opposition that works for the plot…

da qui

This is an astounding film, bleak, grim, more than gritty and for those of us who were not brought up in an Eastern Bloc country a remarkable insight into the machinations of small town corruption Polish style.
Films like this should be seen by a wider audience, it was a captivating experience to sit and view the inner workings of this elaborate (sometimes overly) story.
There was just too much 'going on' in the story and some of it could have been left on the cutting room floor to give a tighter film, but that is a small critique of what is a disturbing look back at communism at 'street level'
If you like your cinema real...don't miss the opportunity to see this slice of Polish communistic vodka sodden culture.

da qui

The Dark House has been called a "Polskie Fargo" but this film is darker and more twisted than anything the Coen Brothers have dreamed up. Set in Communist Poland during the Fall of 1978, this is a drama with pitch black humor. An accidental traveler stops and stays overnight at a farm house in a remote rural area. Soon he and his hosts, a farmer and his wife, become good friends. The evening ends in tragedy. Simultaneously, the story of a police investigation into these tragic events is unfolding, as officers attempt to solve the mystery of what happened on that night. For some of the investigators, uncovering the truth is not as important as hiding their own secrets.

da qui