Rivalry, jealousy, loneliness, disappointment and betrayal are experiences that nearly every student must go through in order to grow. Gabriela Muskala’s feature debut The Clowns uses these subjects to create a compelling coming of age drama with a twist. Being a successful actress herself, the Polish director gets the best out of her actors, giving them the chance to depict the turbulent reality of drama school in their first appearance on the big screen.
The story centres on students from a Faculty of Acting who are supposed to make a graduation film. They are very excited to learn that they will be working with Gajda (Oskar Hamerski), a director notoriously famous for his extreme acting methods, whose task introduces biblical and Polish romanticism characters into their mundane life. The students need to portray Cain, who kills his brother Abel out of jealousy because God preferred...
The story centres on students from a Faculty of Acting who are supposed to make a graduation film. They are very excited to learn that they will be working with Gajda (Oskar Hamerski), a director notoriously famous for his extreme acting methods, whose task introduces biblical and Polish romanticism characters into their mundane life. The students need to portray Cain, who kills his brother Abel out of jealousy because God preferred...
- 10/14/2023
- by Marija Lukarevska
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Clowns stands as a successful debut in the career of Polish director Gabriela Muskała, who distinguished herself in the film Fugue (2018), both as a screenwriter and as an actress. There is a distinct blend of electrifying fiction and real-life events, and it's evident that her work in this instance is deeply tied to a sense of personal involvement. This is exemplified by her collaboration with students from the Łódź Film School, who attempt to subvert the traditional coming-of-age paradigm by employing a broad spectrum of of classical texts.
The group of drama students learns during their acting classes that the prodigy-director, Gajda (Oskar Hamerski), freshly returned from Cannes, intends to hold auditions for his upcoming project. The unusual nature of the film takes shape during the audition and selection process, as two pairs of actors are chosen to portray the roles of Cain and Abel, as well as Balladyna.
The group of drama students learns during their acting classes that the prodigy-director, Gajda (Oskar Hamerski), freshly returned from Cannes, intends to hold auditions for his upcoming project. The unusual nature of the film takes shape during the audition and selection process, as two pairs of actors are chosen to portray the roles of Cain and Abel, as well as Balladyna.
- 10/13/2023
- by Dalesia Cozorici
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Warsaw Film Festival sets out to spotlight a slew of new local releases, from “Anxiety” by Sławomir Fabicki – Oscar-nominated for his short “A Man Thing” – to this year’s opener “Song of Goats” by Andrzej Jakimowski.
The latter, featuring “Eo” star Mateusz Kościukiewicz and set in Greece, will show characters living close to an active volcano, exploring the question of how “each of us is responsible for maintaining our fragile heritage,” says the director.
“We are witnessing a war in a neighboring country [Ukraine], threats from a barbarian empire and rapidly growing populism that is devastating politics. It’s a dreadfully worrying mixture.”
As Poland braces for parliamentary elections on Oct. 15 and the controversy over Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border” refuses to die down, emotions run high.
“What happened went beyond the accepted framework. There was no shortage of absurdity, like the attempt to force cinema managers to screen propaganda material before the film,...
The latter, featuring “Eo” star Mateusz Kościukiewicz and set in Greece, will show characters living close to an active volcano, exploring the question of how “each of us is responsible for maintaining our fragile heritage,” says the director.
“We are witnessing a war in a neighboring country [Ukraine], threats from a barbarian empire and rapidly growing populism that is devastating politics. It’s a dreadfully worrying mixture.”
As Poland braces for parliamentary elections on Oct. 15 and the controversy over Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border” refuses to die down, emotions run high.
“What happened went beyond the accepted framework. There was no shortage of absurdity, like the attempt to force cinema managers to screen propaganda material before the film,...
- 10/5/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Agnieszka Smoczynska‘s 2015 The Lure was quite the sensation, having made a splash at Sundance and having enjoyed a growing reputation in the years since. Smoczynska premiered her second film Fugue at Critics’ Week in Cannes, and while the reception has been equally strong, the film couldn’t be more different. At the Polish premiere at the Nowe Horyzonty Film Festival, I witnessed a sober, hyper-controlled look at a woman who disappears and is forced to go back to a family she doesn’t remember having.
Gabriela Muskała came up with the initial idea and portrays Alicja (who’s now being told her name is Kinga) with a fiercely defiant stare, soldering contempt, pain and disinterest on her face when she is confronted with what’s left of her past relationships.…...
Gabriela Muskała came up with the initial idea and portrays Alicja (who’s now being told her name is Kinga) with a fiercely defiant stare, soldering contempt, pain and disinterest on her face when she is confronted with what’s left of her past relationships.…...
- 3/7/2023
- by Tommaso Tocci
- IONCINEMA.com
Stars: Julia Wieniawa-Narkiewicz, Michal Lupa, Wiktoria Gasiewska, Stanislaw Cywka, Sebastian Dela, Gabriela Muskala, Michal Zbroja, Miroslaw Zbrojewicz, Piotr Cyrwus | Written by Bartosz M. Kowalski, Jan Kwiecinski, Mirella Zaradkiewicz | Directed by Bartosz M. Kowalski
Ever since Friday the 13th helped solidify the concept of the summer camp being a place to just massacre teenagers, we’ve never been short on the supply of new killers and people for them to kill. Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight aka W lesie dzis nie zasnie nikt, is a new Polish addition to the list, but does it offer anything new?
When a group of technology-dependant teenagers are sent to offline camp they are forced to hand over all their phones and tablets to the councillors. Sent off on a hiking trip for a few days, they find themselves not only fending off nature, but a set of monstrous twins whose only aim seems...
Ever since Friday the 13th helped solidify the concept of the summer camp being a place to just massacre teenagers, we’ve never been short on the supply of new killers and people for them to kill. Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight aka W lesie dzis nie zasnie nikt, is a new Polish addition to the list, but does it offer anything new?
When a group of technology-dependant teenagers are sent to offline camp they are forced to hand over all their phones and tablets to the councillors. Sent off on a hiking trip for a few days, they find themselves not only fending off nature, but a set of monstrous twins whose only aim seems...
- 11/2/2020
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Agnieszka Smoczyńska's Fugue (2018), which is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, is showing from April 12 – May 11, 2019 in Mubi's The New Auteurs strand.Most people would empathize with a woman who lost her memory, but what if she preferred not to regain it? Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s second feature, Fugue,is a pronounced psychological exploration of trauma and personal choice of what not to be. Intertwined with dreams and fantasy sequences, the film reinvents the notion of (female) agency with the freedom of merging worlds, similar to the etherealness of Fugue’s genre-bending predecessor, The Lure (2016). In her astonishing debut, Smoczyńska weaved a universe of myth and social reality by presenting man-eating mermaids and their institutional bind to a performance cabaret. This time around, her sophomore feature is more self-contained and introspective, while eluding simple psychological diagnosis. The story...
- 4/15/2019
- MUBI
In the moody psychodrama “Fugue,” competing in the Polish films section at EnergaCamerimage, Agnieszka Smoczyńska explores memory loss and its devastating impact on family in her follow-up to “The Lure.” Utterly unlike her debut, which was a colorful, musical fantasy focused on mermaids, “Fugue” is a study in perception and emotion in which the lead and co-writer, Gabriela Muskala, is suddenly discovered wandering and returned to her family two years after disappearing.
What did you learn from your research into the woman who had gone through this actual breakdown?
It was a very strong experience. I was particularly struck by the fact that Maria never really came back from that “other world.” She was talking to us normally, she seemed to remember everything, and yet she seemed somehow suspended between two worlds: the real here and now and the one that wasn’t “real,” the one of her memories.
How...
What did you learn from your research into the woman who had gone through this actual breakdown?
It was a very strong experience. I was particularly struck by the fact that Maria never really came back from that “other world.” She was talking to us normally, she seemed to remember everything, and yet she seemed somehow suspended between two worlds: the real here and now and the one that wasn’t “real,” the one of her memories.
How...
- 11/13/2018
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Fantastic Fest has made two last-minute additions to its robust lineup of genre films. Richard Shepard’s horror-thriller The Perfection starring Girls alum Allison Williams and Dear White People star Logan Browning will make its World Premiere at the fest, and Fugue directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska is set to make its North American Premiere. Fantastic Fest kicks off Sept. 20 and continues through Sept. 27.
Deadline exclusively reported the casting of Williams and Browning in The Perfection last year. The film follows former cello prodigy (Williams) as she seeks out both her mentor (Steven Weber) and his new star pupil (Browning) with enigmatic — and twisted — intent. Shepard, Williams and Browning are set to attend the fest.
Smoczynska’s Fugue stars Polish actress Gabriela Muskala and follows a woman who is trying to reconnect with her family after being lost in a fugue state for several years. The film marks the follow-up to...
Deadline exclusively reported the casting of Williams and Browning in The Perfection last year. The film follows former cello prodigy (Williams) as she seeks out both her mentor (Steven Weber) and his new star pupil (Browning) with enigmatic — and twisted — intent. Shepard, Williams and Browning are set to attend the fest.
Smoczynska’s Fugue stars Polish actress Gabriela Muskala and follows a woman who is trying to reconnect with her family after being lost in a fugue state for several years. The film marks the follow-up to...
- 9/17/2018
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Arriving in the wake of her beloved goth mermaid extravaganza, “The Lure,” Agnieszka Smoczynska’s disappointingly unadventurous second feature begins much the same way as her first. A mysterious woman surfaces from the underground darkness of modern Poland, grabbing our attention as she stumbles into society. But where the twin sirens in Smoczynska’s debut emerged from a fairy tale, the lost and confused heroine of “Fugue” materializes from the shadows of an unaccountable two-year absence. Her name — she thinks — is Alicja (screenwriter Gabriela Muskala), and the camera follows her as she walks out of a Warsaw subway tunnel in an atomic blonde trench coat, climbs onto the busy platform, and casually pees all over the floor.
Memory loss is one of the oldest plot devices in the world, which makes it ripe for some kind of reinvention. The opening minutes of “Fugue” not only suggest that we’re in...
Memory loss is one of the oldest plot devices in the world, which makes it ripe for some kind of reinvention. The opening minutes of “Fugue” not only suggest that we’re in...
- 5/15/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska left a lasting impression with her debut feature, the dark fairy tale about singing mermaids The Lure (review). Now the director is back with her second feature and it looks just as dark and alluring as her debut without the fantastic elements.
Fugue is written and stars Gabriela Muskala as Alicja, a woman who suffers from memory loss who has run off and created a new life for herself as a free spirit.
After two years in the wild she returns home and tries to re-assimilate herself into her old life as wife and mother but it's not an easy process for either her or her family.
I enjoyed The Lure but found it a bit messy...
Fugue is written and stars Gabriela Muskala as Alicja, a woman who suffers from memory loss who has run off and created a new life for herself as a free spirit.
After two years in the wild she returns home and tries to re-assimilate herself into her old life as wife and mother but it's not an easy process for either her or her family.
I enjoyed The Lure but found it a bit messy...
- 5/11/2018
- QuietEarth.us
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