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Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 6:44:54 GMT by: quietearth
Posted under: movie review drama romance foreign

Year: 2008
Directors: Grzegorz Pacek
Writers: Grzegorz Pacek
IMDB: link
Trailer: link
Purchase DVD: R2 DVD w/ English subs
Review by: quietearth
Rating: 7 out of 10

Set on August 1st, the day of the Polish uprising against the nazis, the beginning of the film is a collage of unhappiness, despair, unwillingness and ultimately a setup for a rebound for our protagonist, Tomek. Loitering on his bike, throwing out an x-girlfriends clothes, deleting her phone messages, and returning their plane tickets to New York bring him to an angry confrontation with a Taxi driver who runs over his bike, knocking him down. He ends up in the hospital, sitting next to a girl who tries making friends with him, and this is where the chase begins.

For all Tomek's angry wariness and as much as he tries to dissuade her, this pursuit by Teresa takes a while, but our two lovers come together for a modern love tale in a Warsaw which is painted as somewhat depressing. From a memorial bearing the names and dates of the dead, to shopping in an immagrant market, the pace quickens and becomes almost frantic as they go on a whirlwind tour of the city which lasts all day, and most of the night. But behind the facade of these two coming together, the tale is still bound by it's painted setting and where they met.

Paradoxically, for such a simple storyline this film contains it's weight in emotion. Teresa, played by Joanna Kulig, is a heartbreaking delight to watch. She's adorable as she wins over Tomek, convincing him with cute stories and dueling with his dissuasion. She's been on quite a bit of Polish TV, so I hope this is the start of a long film career for her.

This really feels like an independent film, from the camera work to the off-color storyline which is what initially attracted me to it, and even though it's got a low 4 rating on IMDB, this isn't one to be ignored. It's all around well done, in fact, the story is very engaging, even at a brief 71 minutes. Wednesday, Thursday Morning certainly deserves more attention and distribution outside it's native Poland. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves independent film or off-kilter love stories. And on a side note, I think writer/director Grzegorz Pacek is one to watch.

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