Monadologiczna metafizyka Leibniza na ekranie. Wokół filmu „Przebudzenia”

Author(s): Bogusław Paź / Language(s): Polish Issue: 96/2016

In his article Paź examines the movie “Awakenings” (dir. Penny Marshall, 1990) for the presence of G. W. Leibniz’s metaphysics of monads. It turns out that the author of the book on which the screenplay is based, Oliver Sacks, a British neurologist and psychiatrist, was himself directly inspired by the categories of the German philosopher, in his description of the patients he examined and treated. Among Leibniz’s concepts taken up by Sacks are: monad, reflection, possible world etc. The film proclaims Leibniz’s laws of consciousness, such as the principle of continuity from the least clear perceptions (lethargy, sleep) to the most clear ones and conscious, and the concept of the real identity of the subject. In particular Leibniz’s thesis on isolation (“monads are windowless”) found itself into the description of the main protagonists of the Awakenings. The value of this film lies in that it is the first and successful attempt at showing the very abstract thesis of the metaphysics of the modern rationalist.

„Diabeł” Andrzeja Żuławskiego: historia, zło i romantyczna gnoza

Author(s): Marcin Maron / Language(s): Polish Issue: 96/2016

The author discusses the historical, philosophical, and political context of the film as well as the artistic form of Andrzej Żuławski’s ‘The Devil’ (1972, prem. 1988). He also takes into consideration Żuławski’s novel-cum-historical essay ‘Moliwda’ (1974, pub. 1994). ‘The Devil’ brings to mind the romantic notions of history and metaphysical evil. The romanticism of ‘The Devil’ and Żuławski’s artistic method manifests itself in two major aspects. The first concerns the vision of the second partition of Poland (1793). The second aspect is the way in which the historical issues are presented in the form of a film phantasm. Żuławski relies on references to gnosticism, the romantic poetry of horror and frenzy. ‘The Devil’ becomes an expression of an artistic and ethical revolt. The director wanted through his film to create a parallel to modern times. The representation of history in ‘The Devil’ was to become an element of a reflection on the moral condition of the Poles and a voice of protest against the events of March 1968 in Poland. The expressive form of the film and historical and political context prevented the distribution of the film for sixteen years, and Żuławski was forced to emigrate from Poland.

Między zniszczeniem a nadzieją – wizja apokalipsy w „Drodze” Johna Hillcoata (2009)

Author(s): Małgorzata Sokołowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 96/2016

The author of the article, who places her argument in the context of anthropology of film, takes into consideration the image of apocalypse in John Hillcoat’s ‘The Road’ (2009), which is a film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same title. The vision of the end of the world presented in the work is a realistic representation of eschatological anxiety inherent in contemporary consciousness. If one accepts Erich Auerbach postulate, that realism ‘reveals reality’, then one may reasonably conclude that ‘The Road’ is a response to the contemporary feeling of ‘crisis’. Hillcoat’s film also contains apocalyptic paradox as described by Jacob Taubes – a tension between destruction and a hope for what the destruction may bring.

Metafizyka w „Labiryncie” Jana Lenicy

Author(s): Marek Hendrykowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 96/2016

In the article on ‘The Labyrinth’ (1962) by Jan Lenica, Hendrykowski – with the help of a series of micro-analyses focused on the semantic functions of individual elements (action, plot, narrative, protagonist, characters, music etc.) – discovers new layers of interpretation of this famous short feature film. The author points to the links between the Aristotelian poetics of this film with the original vision of modern civilization. He concludes that: ‘The animator has the ability to free his imagination from that which binds and restricts it. In order to do it he uses the language of moving images loaded with symbolic meaning, images that can show things as they really are. As a cinema artist he is not limited by the world created, or the laws of physics that govern the filmed (photographed) “in crudo” reality, nor by the body of the actor’.

“Es bonito, verdad?” „Zawód: reporter” jako transcendencja pozioma

Author(s): Sławomir Masłoń / Language(s): Polish Issue: 96/2016

Contrary to the typical existentialist and formalistic interpretations of the film ‘The Passenger’, the author argues that the core of this work lies in the scene showing pure political violence, which is inextricably linked with the famous penultimate shot. Antonioni’s aim in the penultimate shot is the achievement of such a level of visual intensity, that would be equal to the most horrid sequence of the film, that is the execution. A direct relationship between the most horrible and the most beautiful moments in the film establishes the necessary stereoscopy. The existence of suffering in the world is undeniable, however, only the intensity of the gaze permits one to see the ugliness from the right perspective, because it permits engagement into the world for its own sake, and not for narcissistic aims. Visual experience, which we are experiencing in the last two shots, teaches us that the one true transcendence is not vertical (apotheosis), but it is a horizontal leaving of oneself, into an intensified, vision like experience of the world.

Niewyrażalność a obrazowanie cierpienia w „Brakującym zdjęciu” Rithy’ego Panha

Author(s): Gabriela Sitek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 96/2016

The text approaches the problem of ineffability of suffering presented in the documentary autobiographical film ‘The Missing Picture’ (‘L’Image manquante’, 2013) by Rithy Panh. The director, in the absence of photographs of atrocities committed in the period of 1975-1979 by Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, from the perspective of the victims, staged shots that could act as a substitute visual representation. The author analyses and interprets the character given to the missing picture by the director, using the ideas of Georges Didi-Huberman on the Holocaust, presented in ‘Images malgré tout’. The article, in the light of John Burke’s work, shows how archival propaganda material can be used as a historical evidence. The author relies on Susan Sontag’s and Judith Butler’s work on photographic representation of suffering, and André Rouillé’s approach to war photographs as a historical context.

Zjawianie się bomby. Metafizyka, estetyka, trauma

Author(s): Matylda Szewczyk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 96/2016

The article is a reflection upon an experimental film by Bruce Conner ‘Crossroads’ (1975). The author focuses above all on the perceptive experience offered by the film. The main point of reference is the analysis made by William C. Wees in the text from 2010 in which the author considers Conner’s film as a source of an aesthetic experience of the sublime, as described by Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant. Szewczyk contests Wees’ interpretation because of its problematic relation to the broader background of Kant’s philosophy and classic ways of understanding subjectivity. In turn, he proposes a psychoanalytic reflection on Conner’s film, within which the experience of pleasure flowing from the perception of a nuclear explosion presented in film has a purely destructive character.

Nawidzenie – o kino-myśleniu poza metafizyką na przykładzie filmu Abbasa Kiarostamiego „Smak czereśni” (przypis do Jean-Luca Nancy’ego)

Author(s): Janusz Bohdziewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 96/2016

The aim of the article is a reflection on the possibility of taking cinema thought beyond the considerations of metaphysics. The essay is considering this issue in relation to Abbas Kiarostami’s film ‘Taste of Cherry’, with reference to the thoughts of Martin Heidegger and Jean-Luc Nancy. The author briefly interprets the film, identifies its main problem and the solution proposed by the director – using unconventional artistic methods in relation to the transmitted meanings forces the viewer to go beyond the habitual understanding of film as well as reality. This can be described in terms of philosophy – film permits one to experience the unobvious obviousness and forces one to note its primary dependence on the very possibility of being: a clearing. In it, all images should be treated as an evidence, coming to the people from light itself and liberating them to co-create the world. Kiarostami’s work is an example of an open artist’s meeting with a dynamic evidence of being, recorded on film like acheiropoieta.

Na czasy kryzysu

Author(s): Wojciech Sitek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 96/2016

Sitek’s review of the book by Magdalena Kempna-Pieniążek ‘Neo-noir. Ciemne zwierciadło czasów kryzysu’ [‘Neo-noir. Dark Reflection of the Times of Crisis’] (2015). He argues that contemporary undefined and multiform crises touch every inhabitant of the global village, and the book by Magdalena Kempna-Pieniążek, the first Polish monograph devoted to the area of neo-noir cinema, is a film based analysis of this phenomenon. The author’s diagnosis connected to the neo-noir cinema are accompanied by necessary clarifications in terms of definitions, typology and time periods. The author of the book summarizes and compares positions, traditions and possible research approaches to the problem, which leads her to formulate the key theses of the publication. According to her from neo-noir productions there emerges a continuous feeling of confusion, which forces one to redefine terms related to identity, gender roles, perception of the world and humanity. Sitek in his review touches not only on the typical elements of review related to the theme and the structure of the publication, but also on the question of editing. In particular he appreciated the richness of the illustrations and the book’s accessibility not only to the readers representing the scientific community, but also ordinary cinema fans.

Filmowa archeologia Macieja Drygasa

Author(s): Katarzyna Mąka-Malatyńska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 25/2015

Affirmation, Acceptance and Rejection: Polish Contemporary Documentary Filmmakers and their Relation to Poland’s Documentary Film Tradition

Author(s): Katarzyna Mąka-Malatytńska / Language(s): English Issue: 24/2014

This paper attempts to define the complex attitude to the tradition in Poland of fact-driven cinema shared by members of the young generation of Polish documentary filmmakers. The examples of films by Marcin Koszałka and Wojciech Staroń, and Tomasz Wolski’s The Lucky Ones, discussed in greater detail, illustrate various shades of this complex attitude, oscillating between affirmation and opposition. The article argues against criticism that demands contemporary cinema take up certain issues and discard others.

Uniwersalizm w etiudzie dokumentalnej Lecieć – nie lecieć w reżyserii Anieli Gabryel

Author(s): Joanna Sikorska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 24/2014

Uniwersalizm w etiudzie dokumentalnej Lecieć – nie lecieć w reżyserii Anieli Gabryel

15 Minutes: Belarus!

Author(s): Aleh Dashkevich,Volha Dashuk,Beata Dzianowicz,Jolanta Kilian,Iryna Volakh,Jan Zamojski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 24/2014

Student project

Węgierska parodia filmowa. Skutki uboczne parodii filmowych z czasów Kádára

Author(s): Tomáš Hučko / Language(s): Polish Issue: 23/2014

In the rich and colorful Hungarian film history from post-war years to the present day we find an abundance of comedies combining satire, epigram, burlesque, but true parody film among them is not too much, is a rare phenomenon. What is the reason? We are looking for the answers in examples of two trials of parody film: the first and the only parody of James Bond: Az Oroszlan ugrani készül (dir. György Révész, 1969) and Kojak Budapesten (dir. Sándor Szalkai,1980), inspired by the main character of the American television series Kojak. Both attempts are accompanied with specific “side effects”. It tells a lot about the possibilities and limits of the Hungarian film parody.

Praca w jednym ujęciu, czyli historia aktywności zawodowych XXI wieku widziana okiem kamery

Author(s): Aleksandra Hirszfeld / Language(s): Polish Issue: 21/2013

Tekst traktuje o międzynarodowym cyklu warsztatów zapoczątkowanych przez Antje Ehman i Haruna Farockiego w 2011 roku pod patronatem Goethe Institut i poświęconych zagadnieniu pracy. Na dzień dzisiejszy zostało zrealizowanych dziesięć warsztatów na planowanych piętnaście (m.in.: w Hanoi, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Kairze, Berlinie, Tel Avivie, Genewie i Lizbonie). Łódź reprezentująca Polskę była dziewiątym miejscem-miastem. W polskiej wersji warsztatów wzięli udział artyści sztuk wizualnych z PWSFTviT. Wyniki warsztatów będzie można obejrzeć na październikowej wystawie w 2013 roku w Łódzkim Muzeum Sztuki. Kuratorkami projektu są: Aleksandra Jach i Joanna Sokołowska.

Młodzi filmowcy, młodzi bohaterowie

Author(s): Zuzanna Witulska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 19/2012

Trzy razy o wymyślaniu sobie życia

Author(s): Szymon Baranowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 19/2012

Między wierszami, czyli adaptacja nietypowa

Author(s): Ryszard Brylski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 17-18/2011

Między wierszami, czyli adaptacja nietypowa

Filmowa podróż Kolskiego

Author(s): Marek Hendrykowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 15-16/2011

Filmowa podróż Kolskiego

Refleksy na powierzchni klosza. Otwórczości filmowej Kornela Filipowicza

Author(s): Wojciech Lipowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 13-14/2009

This is an overall review of little-known-part of artistic creation of Kornel Filipowicz(1913–1990), writer of short stories, novels,scenarios, but also a poet. This reassessment is based on his scenarios, which were created in collaboration with the film director Stanisław Różewicz and his brother, the poet Tadeusz. Informal company formed jointly created ten scenarios completed, Filipowicz participated in the implementation of five titles. The texts discussed in the article mark the major stages in the development of Filipowicz’s writing technique, illustrate his imaginative use of various points of view and of various genres in the construction of film story, and exemplify the wide range of his themes and interests.The article draws also the unpublished screenplay written by Kornel Filipowicz and Stanisław Różewicz Sunset.