Winning Pawlikowski the BAFTA for most promising newcomer, a label that took a while to take hold, co-written with Rowan Joffe, film shows the unpleasant nature of being a refugee to this country and paints a depressing picture of Stonehaven (actually Margate) life. Dina Korzun (Cold Souls) and her son Artyom Strelnikov find help from ex-con Paddy Considine. Shot in a hand-held, immediate style by Ryszard Lanczewski, catching an odd beauty in the grimmest scenery. (The Internet is so dangerous I've just found myself watching the beginning of his 1998 film Prostytutki, in Polish, on YouTube.)
The boy is smart.
Solid, economical film is most rewarding and well acted, worth picking up a second-hand copy on eBay as the only currently available print is an Italian one with forced subtitles.
Pawlikowski was first a documentary filmmaker, which sounds interesting, starting with the intriguing sounding Lucifer Over Lancashire. His Restraint of Beasts, abandoned in 2006 when his wife became ill, starred Ben Whishaw, Eddie Marsan and Rhys Ifans and is thus hugely disappointing it was never finished.
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