ELEPHANT (SŁON)

KAMIL KRAWCYCKI | POLAND | 2022 | 104 MIN | POLISH S.-T.EN.

When hardworking Bartek and free-spirited Dawid connect after Dawid’s return to his picturesque Polish village for his father’s funeral, their budding relationship stimulates Bartek’s drive for self-fulfilment and stirs his heart. Though something darker stirs in those who want to bridle this force of nature.     

In the film’s opening, Bartek (Jan Hrynkiewicz) rides his beloved horse before the hills that hem in his village and comes to a river, which his horse refuses to cross. A similar refusal plagues Bartek. He derives contentment from his rough but rewarding life as the caretaker of his family farm but yearns for his identity to flourish. Dawid (Paweł Tomaszewski), who long ago fled the village and his father’s alcoholism, has been able to nourish that side of himself. Bartek wants in. Bartek’s troubled mother (Ewa Skibińska) wants Dawid – and this sudden need to grow – out. Pulled by disparate desires, Bartek must choose which rivers to ford. Undergirded by defiance and revelling in the natural world – its dusty greens erupting into deep autumnal oranges – Kamil Krawczycki’s debut feature gives voice to once-silent urges in a uniquely fractured style. Days passing, allegiances shifting. Souls awakening.

screening at Cinéma Impérial only | NOVEMBER 25TH 7PM