I did, four years ago, write a review of Pawel Pawlikowski’s post-war masterpiece Ida, but I’m not certain it’s still online or if I ever even shared it on this website; that’s too bad, because it’d be nice to revisit my words for context for Cold War, Pawlikowski’s new film, which I imagine years from now I’ll also refer to as a masterpiece without hesitation. This is without question one of the finest pieces of cinema I’ve seen all year, and easily the most romantic, which is to say it’s complicated; this is an erotic movie, for sure, but also a distant movie, a bittersweet movie, and a gutting movie. Above all else it’s uncertain.
Sort of; it is, as you’ll find when you read my review, the story of how Pawlikowski’s parents met, and we know that they eventually made him. So not all’s uncertain. But these characters are just characters, and Cold War is elliptical. Take that and do whatever you like with it.
You can read my full review of Cold War at Paste Magazine.
A Constant Visual Feast 