DVD Review - Iluminacja (1973)

Genre:
Drama
Distributor:
Second Run
Rating:
15
DVD Release Date:
27th January 2014 (UK)
Director:
Krzysztof Zanussi
Cast:
Stanislaw Latallo, Malgorzata Pritulak, Monika Dzienisiewicz-Olbrychska
Buy: Illumination (Iluminacja) [DVD]Iluminacja is a Polish film from 1973; Krzysztof Zanussi directed it and it won all three main prizes at the 1973 Locarno International Film Festival and got a special award t 1974 Gdynia Film Festival. It has been added to Second Run’s catalogue and they specialize in Czech and Polish films.

The film is about a young physicist Franciszek Retman(Played by Stanislaw Latallo) and it’s about his self-discovery though his time at University and beyond. It mixes both fiction filmmakers and documentary filmmaking and at times morphs into an essay film. It’s both a very good coming of age film about a man who starts off as idealistic wantabe physicist to a broken man who realizes there is more to life than just science. He experiences love, loss, betrayal and eventually has a existential crisis as you do.

The film was one of the most pleasant surprises from Second Run in a while. I have to admit a film about a physicist which was described as a essay film really didn’t appeal to me but it’s much more accessible than the plot synopsis suggests. The film should connect with anyone who has been a 20 something that questions their place in the universe. It’s worth checking out and it should raise some interesting questions about your place in the universe and the meaning of it.

★★★★☆

Ian Schultz