Krzysztof Kieslowski

[Nomansvally]

My favorite director and defently a underrated one in film history. This Polish director had a short career. He died 55 years old in 1996 leaving behind him a body of work which contained 8 feature films, one ten-episode Television series concerning the ten commandments (two of these were extended to feature films)and numerous documentaries and shorts.

The first thing that will strike you when watching a Kieslowski feature film is how the pictures are composed. You will be spellbound by the cinematography, and the orchestrated music by Zbigniew Preisner. I remember watching Trois Ceuleurs Bleu for the first time and I had to rewind the DVD-player several times just to absorb the same scenes again. Speaking of Trois Ceuleurs this triology refers to the colors of the French flag. It's consisting of Bleu, Blanc and Rouge. Bleu for liberation, Blanc for equality and Rouge for fraternity.) Rouge was nominated for 4 AA when Schindler's List won, and the Cannes D'or when Pulp Fiction won. My personal favorite is La Double vie de Véronique (1991) starring Irené Jacob, it's nothing but beautiful this film!
The Dekalog is ten-episodes which cover each and every one of the ten commandments from the Bible. Each episode portrays how a commandment work and consequenses of breaking it. A Short film About Killing and A Short film about Love are two episodes extended and was released theatrical in 1988.

I recommend the documentary Krzysztof Kieslowski: I'm So-So... (1995) by Krzysztof Wierzbicki for special interested. It features one of the very last interviews he ever had and basically covers his whole career in the business.

For further information checkout:

www.imdb.com/name/nm0001425/

...or ask me!

[mixed]

Thanks for the info. I haven't actually seen any Kieslowski yet

[misterbalco]

Im gonna see the Three Color Trilogy by Kieslowski on the big screen on the 17th. I'll post my thoughts on the director after, as I do not believe that I have seen any of Kieslowski's other stuff.

[Nomansvally]

The tree colours triology is quite an experiance, you have much to look foward to! I like Bleu the most, but all are nevertheless pretty good!

Please post your thoughts about anything you've seen of Kieslowski!

[Nomansvally]

Ah, no. I feel ashamed of not seeing that one. I have plans for buying it when the R2 DVD drops price...

[criterionmaster]

I am not qualified at all to be doing this but I was bored and since the man didn't have a myspace I started one for him!

I really need everyones help with some poster art/pictures from his films. And if you could find a nice short bio on the man it would be great. Spread the page around!

www.myspace.com/krzysztofkieslowski

[Nomansvally]

Oh, wondeful Criterionmaster! Very good. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Kie%C5%9Blowski has a good biography of him. You should consider that one. Besides you can also try my.dreamwiz.com/jyjung71/eng/kie/bio.html

Great!

[agentknight]

I've seen Bleu and Blanc, which were both so so brilliant, and I will see Rouge soon.

[ie]

This post will have two main things in it:

1) This guy has a cool first name.

2) I've heard how good the Colors trilogy. Now that I know the director is pretty good, I'll have to put a little bit more effort into checking them out. (Busy me, though...)

[Nomansvally]

You do that, ie! You will never forget a film made by KK!

[agentknight]

Dekalog I is the greatest thing ever.

[criterionmaster]

Yes, it definitely is one of my favorites.

[wkw]

Which KK film do you think is his best? I've only seen Three Colors, The Double Life of Veronique, and Decalogue I, II, IX.

[lordofdance]

Because I hold the philosophy that film appreciation is in the eye of the beholder, and that entertainment is my overriding motivation for watching films, I must be fully honest and say that Three Colors very nearly bored me to madness. I rate each film as follows:

Blue 4/10
White 6/10
Red 5/10

I couldn't find anything to relate to or become involved with. I'm really not sure what makes these films so acclaimed.

I haven't written off Kieslowski because I haven't seen his other films (I have The Double Life of Veronique on queue), but there are some directors that just don't do it for me. I try to take each film individually without associating it with a particular director, but some directors have a style that is difficult to get in to.

[ie]

In comparison, I saw the first ten minutes of Three Colors: Blue and was very impressed with it. Mainly the visual aspect, which I was very impressed with.

Although since everything was kind of vague, I could understand the lack of entertainment value. I just figure, hey, if there's something for me to latch onto - the visual aspect, in this case - then I'm game for the rest of the ride.

[kiddo]

You should definitively go for the ride, ie. As you mention, the visuals are gorgeous, and I think you will find many rewarding aspects in the film (or the whole trilogy for that matter), if you use yourself. It's not a film you sit back and enjoy with a couple of "random" friends, taking a beer or two. But heck, Blue is one of the most beautiful films I've seen. And I'm thinking both in content and looks.

[wkw]

Yes, Blue is beautiful and the most emotionally powerful movie of the trilogy. Kieslowski is a genius for interpreting liberty, equality, and fraternity in such personal and unique ways. Blue is an anti-tragedy, White an anti-comedy, and Red an anti-romance. Red is 3rd favorite film, it's such a beautiful, mysterious, and thought provoking film.

[ie]

In the end, I wasn't quite as impressed with it as everyone else. Toward the middle, everything became vague and somewhat hard to follow. Then toward the end, I still had very little idea what was going on, and my interest was mostly faded by the time I got to the end. That happens, though, so it's not completely negative.

I don't quite feel as negatively toward Three Colors: Blue as lordofdance did. I'll give it some time before giving it a formal rating, but if I were to rate it right now, I might give it an 8/10. I'm still going to check out more by Kieslowski, but I don't have as much interest in his work now.

[kiddo]

Don't give up on him. I think Blanc (White) is more "your type" of the trilogy. It has a lot more comedy in it, but at the same time it's very serious. A fantastic film, with a lot of heart. Check it out, ie.

I liked what you said about the films being ant-tragedy, anti-comedy, and anti-romance, wkw. I guess you hit the right spot there. All these films have so much inside of their frame, it's nearly embarrasing to look at the random, clichè piece of superficial romantic works that the machinery keep spitting out to an audience not wanting to explore for themselves, but hungry for fresh meat, delivered with all the ingredience possible. If you catch my drift.