This week brings to Kyiv a handful of both fresh and good old movies.
Some of them will be screening in Ukrainian only, others will run for weeks, so this week we’re reviewing only those you have one chance to watch: Polish festival movies, a French comedy, a cult comedy from USA featuring Merilyn Monroe, and a Swiss drama.
For complete listings visit www.kino.ukr.net/cinema/kiev
10 YEARS IN ANDRZEJ WAJDA’S SCHOOL
Language: Polish with Ukrainian subtitles
March 3-6 at 5 p.m.
Kyiv
Polish director Andrzej Wajda started his career in the middle of 20th century, and very soon became a cult figure who denied the modern cinema in his nation.
He didn’t need to buy expensive superstar actors to create a box office hit – actors woke up famous the day after they played in Wajda’s films.
After making dozens of movies, Wajda opened his own “Master School of Film Directing” in 2001. More than 50 movies came out of it in 10 years of its existence.
The festival “10 years in Andrzej Wajda’s School” is made up of 10 shorts, mostly dramas, by different Polish directors, and one full length biographical drama “Korczak” by Wajda himself.
It tells the story of Jewish doctor Henryk Goldszmit, known also as Janusz Korczak. He set up an orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto, where Jewish orphans found shelter and safety during the World War II.
Each movie will be screened once, so make sure you check the schedule on www.kievkino.com.ua
ALL THAT GLITTERS (TOUT CE QUI BRILLE)
Comedy
France 1937, 100’
Language: French with Ukrainian subtitles
Directed by Géraldine Nakache
March 5 at 7 p.m.
Budynok kino
The story of a simple girl who gets sucked into the posh lifestyle of the elite, has been tried and tested by all sorts of writers and directors, but the theme does not seem to run out of allure.
Beautiful brunettes Lila and Ely, brought up somewhere in the suburbs of Paris, not only look alike, but are so close they even share dreams.
Pursuing their fantasies about a lifestyle from the pages of glossy magazines, they drop out of college, getting jobs in a shopping mall. When they decide to sneak into a chic nightclub, their lives turn upside down.
Lila falls for charming and rich Maxx, while Ely builds up a friendship with a lesbian couple.
LA VALLE DELLE OMBRE (THE VALLEY)
Drama
Switzerland 2009, 95’
Language: Italian with Russian or Ukrainian subtitles
Directed by Mihály Györik
March 6 at 7 p.m.
Master Class Cultural Center
Kids have been always fond of secrets. Every child is obsessed with cobwebbed attics, old windmills, closed doors and scrapped hutches full of grannies’ treasures.
When Matteo, a boy raised in a big city, comes to a mountain village to visit his grandfather, no one can imagine how many secrets he would delve into.
Hanging out with his cousin Lidia and three of her friends, Matteo gets a chance to hear the stories that reveal the mysterious past of that mountain valley.
SOME LIKE IT HOT
Comedy
USA 1959, 120’
Language: English with English subtitles
Directed by Billy Wilder
March 8 at 7 p.m.
Master Class Cultural Center
What won’t a man do to save his life?
Poor musicians Joe and Jerry had to remodel themselves to become women to escape the revenge of Colombo, the leader of Chicago gangsters, whom they accidentally saw murdering people.
Turning into two respectable ladies, Josephine and Daphne, they join a female jazz orchestra in its concert tour. Everything might have gone smoothly had Joe not fallen for a beautiful soloist Sugar Kane, played by the legendary Marilyn Monroe.
Jerry also gets sucked into a love affair – albeit somewhat unwillingly, as Osgood Fielding, an old millionaire, loses his head because of the female character he pretends to be. He won’t take no for an answer.
