No. 78 (2021) I NEVER CRY (Jak Najdalej Stad) Polish Film Fest. Luna / Backlot; Perth SEPT. 29th.

 

Film No. 77 (2021)  September 29th.  7:10 PM   Cinema 1  LUNA,  Leederville. 

"We have a deal. He knows nothing about me and vice versa."(Ola discusses the dysfunctional relationship she has with her father, with her empathetic employer).

This is definitely my first foray into the Polish/Irish comedy but mainly drama sphere. After, I Never Cry, I'm looking forward to my second. Zofia Stafiej as Olka is wonderfully cast as the daughter with a grudge against her father and so much to learn from life. Stafiej is magnetic in her debut lead role.

Director Piotr Domalewski showed his concern for the Polish working class (when work off shore was the only viable alternative for so many and put so much pressure on families) in SILENT NIGHT. It was a serious, uncompromising film asking questions about life under E.U. controls. I NEVER CRY is also serious but controls many bleak scenes with laugh out loud moments. It's as though Domalewski wants to highlight  particular themes, mainly death and grief, with humour. It works and adds to the magnetic pull of Olka.

We meet Olka as she takes her driver's test on the high streets of Warsaw. Three minutes in we know something of the character whose pocket we are about to inhabit for 92 minutes. Her aims are uncomplicated enough, but her family situation is not. She is dependent on her father who works off-shore (Ireland) for her most cherished want, a car, but she is resentful of him as he has been absent from her life for a long time. She's a chain-smoking 17 year old. Her disabled brother (Pawel) relies on their mother, there is resentment and oh so much stress in her young life.

Suddenly a telephone call comes from Ireland that changes everything. Olka has to accept the ultimate challenge. We are there to watch her take this on in a foreign country, a task no teenager should have to face. We rarely question her judgment. Olka matures before our eyes, and while a cliché or two sneaks into focus our admiration for her is never compromised. I'm pleased to say that the old adage "most people are good" holds strong here. I loved the, at times, torturous journey Olka took me on.  10GUMS.