Barrier(Bariera)
Dir: Jerzy Skolimowski
Poland, 1966, Polish, 81mins, DCP
Cast: Jan Nowicki, Joanna Szczerbic, Tadeusz Lomnicki
In an extraordinary fusion of reckless fantasy and indefinable menace, Skolimowski takes a bleakly disenchanted look at communist Poland. Trying to diagnose his own detachment from the world, a medical student quits his studies and seeks to overcome the barriers of his life: money, identity, status, romance and social conventions, all the while he is led to a bewildering track through a chance encounter with a beautiful tram driver. Shot in solemnly sumptuous imagery, this portrait of a cynical generation is imbued with Brechtian moments and Krzysztof Komeda’s vibrant jazz score to conjure up a dazzling yet devastating allegory.
Valladolid International Film Festival: Jury Special Prize
