5/5/15

Waterline

Poland submitted "Jeziorak" (English captions) to the 2015 Seattle International Film Festival. As is usually the case, at least it has been my experience with Polish films, this is a well-crafted, beautifully acted crime drama. It is unpredictable, with tension, suspense and a mystery all nicely woven together.

Written and directed by Michal Otlowski, we see unfamiliar faces in a fairly familiar quandary: A pregnant policewoman (shades of "Fargo"!) is searching for her missing fiance. He too, is a police officer and it looks like he is being framed. She is assigned a young assistant who sees the world in black and white, with no shades of "maybe." In addition, they are dealing with at least one female corpse.

The cast:
  • Jowita Budnik - Iza Deren is a policewoman investigating a crime that becomes more complex (and far more personal) the more closely she examines it. It was interesting to see how the actress became increasingly attractive as we learned to love her face.
  • Sebastian Fabijanski is her new assistant, Wojciech Marzec. It is obvious that he will be a big help because he is eager, smart and considerate.
  • Mariusz Bonaszewski is Wolski, our heroine's boss, taking flack from his superiors and anxious to put a lid on any possible scandal.
  • Lukasz Simlat is Wilhelm a reclusive bootlegger who lives across the lake from Jeziorak, a high-end lakeside resort that seems central to the crimes.
  • Agata Buzek is Wilhelmina, an inmate at a mental institution; she died decades ago.
This nail biter is shot in muted shades with no primary colors. There are shocking bits of violence, some brutal gunplay and at least one hanging. This is NOT a walk in the park, but it is involving and wonderfully done. I highly recommend it.