Surrealism in the shade of grey?

“If Wojciech Has had become a painter, he would surely have been a Surrealist. ” (Alexander Jankiewicz) Surrealism in the cinema usually comes in two distinctive shades: white or black or in other words bright or dark. Its dark side is represented by such directors as Polanski, Lynch, and Cronenberg. Explorers of the dark side of human psyche, sexuality, and generally our subconscious drives, create nightmarish, disintegrated worlds that fall into pieces as their protagonists’ psyche... [More]

A Slice, a Poke and a Stab of Humour

“Illusion is the first of all pleasures” Oscar Wilde. The Saragossa Manuscript, a majestic roller-coaster of a movie, is perhaps best described as a tale within a tale. Or in fact several tales within tales within tales. The structure of the film, as well as the book: Count Jan Potocki’s marvellously multilayered masterpiece Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse (Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie in Polish translation), is mind-bogglingly complex. The atypical, even surreal, frame-tale structuring of... [More]

Inside Saragossa

Wojciech Has’ film The Saragossa Manuscript is many things to many people. To fans of 60s Counter-Culture it is a head movie, to Lynch enthusiasts it is surrealist film, to story tellers it is a labyrinth and puzzle. But when searching for underlying influences, the city of Krakow, Poland, is to be found everywhere. Wojciech Has was born in Krakow (1925) where he was childhood friends with Mieczyslaw Jahoda (Director of Photography) and Jerzy Skarzynski (Set and Costume Designer). The film... [More]