Real Reviews - A Short Film About Love

I could not think of a more fitting review for Valentine’s Day. Although I am not a fan of the holiday, I thought some of you may be so here it is:

A Short Film About Love (1988)

Brief Detail

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Writer: Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Genre: Drama/Romance

Plot

Tomek (Olaf Lubaszenko) is a 19 year old boy living with his friend’s mother and working at the local post office. Every night he finds himself spying on a women across the way from his apartment. He is constantly finding ways to have to talk to her, but never has the courage to really say anything. Magda (Grazyna Szapolowska), the women he is spying on, starts to get frustrated with all of the things going on in her life and slowly Tomek is able to get the courage to talk to her more. This story is a study on what love really is and makes you question if it is possible for Tomek to truly love a woman that he has never formally met.

Performance

Lubaszenko did a good job as Tomek. His character kept to himself a lot, but when he finally needed to he did let out some of his emotion. His character seemed very real; even if he was a little creepy at times. Szapolowski also did well as Magda. She plays the woman that is older and more mature and this makes it seem more difficult for the pair to work, but her character changes through the course of the film because of Tomek. These two are the only sizable characters in the film and both had a good performance.

Cinematography & Directing

This film did not come close to the visual prowess of Keislowski’s later films, but this movie was almost more of a thought provoking film. Much like his Three Colors trilogy though, it has a focus on a certain social concern. In this case it is obviously love. The film makes you think about how it would be possible for Tomek to fall in love with this woman that he does not even know by simply spying on her. Over the course of the film you have to start asking yourself if you agree with the characters’ perspectives and the director’s perspective. A Short Film About Love was a great thought provoking film that explored the human concept of love.

The Real Deal

A few years ago I had to go through a lot of Keislowski’s films because I loved Blue so much, but I had not seen this one. Although the title says that it is a short film, it is actually a decent length of 86 minutes. The movie did not impress me like Blue did, but it was still worth the watch and a great movie that was less visually impressive and yet intellectually rich. This was common of Krzysztof Kieslowski films.

The Short Version

Raw Score: 808,193
Sharon Movie? No

Source: Dave’s Movie Reviews

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