Lech Majewski

[Mise En Scene]

There's a touring retrospective of this man's work partly organized by Wendy Lidell of the International Film Circuit, and Laurence Kardish, Senior Film Curator at the Museum of Modern Art.

The Department of Film and Media presents the first American retrospective of Lech Majewski, a filmmaker in mid-career. Majewski, a Polish artist who works internationally, is known for the films and videos he writes, directs, and shoots, and for his original scores. A graduate of the Lodz Film School, Majewski is also a poet, painter, and stage director celebrated for opera and theatrical events. His stylized moving-image works eschew language in favor of music and fantastically expressive landscapes, both domestic and topographical. His imaginative features—whether based on legends, like The Knight and Angelus, or on such real-life figures as Jean-Michel Basquiat and the poet Rafal Wojaczek—are distinguished by a unique sensibility hovering not only between the absurd and the metaphysical, but also the beautiful and the profane. All films written and directed by Majewski, and in Polish with English subtitles, except where noted. Features will be preceded by a short video piece from Majewski’s DiVinities series.

Which films of those seven in the retrospective (not counting Schnabel's Basquiat) are must-sees? (I can't catch all seven; I'd love to, though.):

Edit: Link fixed
Lech Majewski: Conjuring the Moving Image

[Cold Bishop]

Whaaaaaaaaat? You guys got The Knight and Wojaczek? The Roe's Room too.

From those I've seen, Garden of Earthly Delights was the only I didn't care for. Angelus was the best, reminding me at parts of Fellini and Paradjanov, although I does fall quite short of being anywhere in the leagues of those two. Both Gospel... and Glass Lips/Blood of a Poet are also worth seeing, the former a very Beckettian and very funny, the last one a "collection of film poems" to create the interior life of the title poet. I don't think any of the films are obscure lost masterpieces or anything like that, but there definitely worth seeing. The two that we didn't get in Portland, however, seem to be very much interesting, and may be just as good, if not better, than the rest.

He did make mention of DVD releases this year, although I'm not sure which films.

[Mise En Scene]

Thanks, Cold Bishop. Much appreciated.

[Skritek]

Is there any news for a DVD of Angelus? It seems interesting to me for various reasons, one of them because its supposedly in Silesian, probably the only film in the language.

[MichaelB]

It's out in Poland, but the subtitles appear to be in Polish only.

There's also a Lech Majewski box coming out in Poland next week, containing The Roe's Room, The Garden of Earthly Delights and The Gospel According to Harry, but the language situation is vague - though I think English soundtracks are featured on at least some titles.

[Bajaja]

I have the Polish DVD of Angelus; it is Region 0 and with English subtitles. But I have to mention a slight detail that may or may not be significant: the text in white at the bottom of my cover is much shorter than that on the Merlin website cover--mine only says "komedia metafyziczna" (a metaphysical comedy)...
As for the language, yes, it is in Silesian, which might be considered a Polish dialect. A Polish speaker should be fine even without the subtitles. The film itself is a riot, very highly recommended. The surreal tableaux that punctuate the story are simply breathtaking. The homegrown "metaphysics" of the characters, exposed in their actions, dialogs, and pseudoscientific/religious lectures/sermons, is delightfully wacky. Nevertheless, the underlying issues are serious - the limits of personal beliefs and the right of the society to regulate them.
As for what to choose from Majewski's oeuvre, I certainly did not care for The Garden of Earthly Delights and The Gospel According to Harry, but it is the matter of personal tastes. To me, the former is a tedious digital-video exercise (not unlike the latest Lynch), while the latter is an allegory/satire that IMHO is outdated in its mode of delivery as well as its message. I would rate Angelus as the best of Majewski's work, but have not had the chance to see The Knight and Wojaczek (I do have high expectations of those).

[Skritek]

Good to hear, where did you order the film? Or maybe I will find it in the Czech Republic. And after looking at some Silesian texts, it is more understandable for me as a Czech speaker than Polish.

[Bajaja]

I cannot find the record of the order, but I believe I got the disk from the web store called Astabe.

[Skritek]

I cannot find the record of the order, but I believe I got the disk from the web store called Astabe.

Thanks, I had remembered that I once bookmarked some Polish sites (rockserwis, merlin) and they have got the film.