Krzysztof Kieslowski (1941-1996) was a Polish director whose nuanced adventures in metaphysics—borne out of an education in documentary filmmaking, no less!—garnered great acclaim in Europe and around the world.
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An early narrative effort, Camera Buff follows unassuming Filip, a factory worker in Communist Poland whose growing obsession with the craft of filmmaking allows Kieslowski to explore both Polish social conditions and, self-reflexively, his own role behind the camera.
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Although seemingly political, Kieslowki's 1984 film about the ghost of a dead lawyer who watches over his wife is more concerned with the relationship between the real and unreal than between Communist and non-Communist. Magic realism on celluloid.
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Three possible fates, shown one after another, await a Polish man as he attempts to catch an all-important train. Will he join the Communists, join the resistance, or stay out of the struggle altogether? Not unlike A Christmas Carol, but with with a more typically Kieslowskian question: do politics really matter?
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Is giving three films as one cheating? Not when it comes to these three (and just wait until my #1 pick!). Although superficially inspired by the three concepts embedded in the French flag, Kieslowski actually draws more from the colours themselves to give us three insightful glimpses into the lives of a mix of well-drawn characters: a composer's widow, a divorced man travelling home in a suitcase, and an injured dancer whose quest to reconnect with the world ends the series.
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You had three. Now, take ten! Each roughly one hour long, these ten tales inspired by the Ten Commandments are the highlight of Kieslowski's career—and one of the greatest accomplishments by any director, at any time, anywhere! There are a few experiences all true film fans must pass through, and this is one of them. It'll leave you a better person and richer cineaste. Incidentally, two of these films were expanded by Kieslowski into features of their own.
