AFTERIMAGE (2016) by Andrzej Wajda

“It’s a fitting swan song for the master filmmaker who himself continued to work in uncertain economic and political climates… Uncompromisingly sympathetic, Wajda’s final feature is a work of grounded humanity free from melodrama.” – John Fink, The Film Stage

“AFTERIMAGE is mounted in a classical, beautifully understated style that throughout conveys the assurance of a true master. It’s one of those films that doesn’t ask to be liked or admired, but only to be heard... It’s the testimony of an artist who has seen the worst of Polish history and demands that it not be forgotten.” – Godfrey Cheshire, RogerEbert.com

“I can think of a few examples… in which a director’s final film was indeed, consciously or not, a kind of spiritual summation. And so it is with AFTERIMAGE, a movie about a man whose fate stands as a condemnation of so much that is abhorrent in the wider world.” – Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

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[Peter]

Being an artist is great fun when you live in a studio loft paid for out of daddy’s trust fund, but imagine a world where the artistic choices you make are literally life-or-death decisions. Welcome to the life and times of Władysław Strzemiński—a contemporary of Chagall and Kandinsky, co-founder of Europe’s first modern art museum, and a man who later fell out of favour with Poland’s postwar communist government, whose demand that art serve socialist realism clashed with his unwavering, almost obsessive commitment to artistic freedom.

AFTERIMAGE is the creation of Andrzej Wajda, the grandmaster of Polish cinema, who had a predilection for making films with a central antihero who possesses a strong and deeply personal moral code which does not mesh particularly well with the political zeitgeist in which he is forced to operate. Martin Scorsese (who is a huge admirer of Wajda’s work) once wrote, “With Polish cinema, what I especially respond to is the mixture of passion, meticulous craftsmanship, dynamic deep focal-length compositions, moral dilemmas and religious conflicts, often done with a very sharp sense of humour.” If the movies we have been discussing this month are any indication, I’d say that Marty knows whereof he speaks.

You can stream AFTERIMAGE for free on Kanopy.

Happy viewing!