Cracow. “Happy New York” in the series “Restored Masterpieces”
mat. Museum of Cinematography in Łódź
Happy New York directed by Janusz Zaorski. The screening on November 14, 2022 at 19.00. Łukasz Maciejewski will conduct the screening with the director and Katarzyna, the figure.
Łukasz Maciejewski: There is probably no such America anymore, such Poland in America, it remained as a literary (Redliński, Głowacki, Mrożek), film (Skolimowski) document. Greenpoint, sausage, vodka, dreams – that there will be New York, caviar, champagne, that they will appreciate in Poland. In Janusz Zaorski’s Happy New New, Katarzyna Figura exemplifies Teresa – “Teriza”, a girl with an image for life, fortunately fortunately, gliding through Greenpoint in a leopard-print jacket, in a mohair sweater, with a storm blonde. I am so lonely in my dreams, so beautifully naive. I am looking forward to the first Krakow meeting with Kasia Figura in our series, and another meeting with Janusz Zaorski. Human New York, closer to than.
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HAPPY NEW YORK
Cast: Bogusław Linda, Cezary Pazura, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Janusz Gajos, Katarzyna Figura, Rafał Olbrychski, Danuta Stenka
Music: Marek Kościkiewicz
Directed by: Janusz Zaorski
Pictures: Paweł Edelman
Scenography: Janusz Sosnowski, Dianne Kalemkeris
Screenplay: Edward Redliński, Janusz Zaorski
Editing: Ewa Różewicz
Janusz Zaorski made his debut during the so-called third cinema. What they managed to solve, they tried to fix, thanks to which it was possible to make recordings at the turn of the sixties and seventies. Zaorski was the youngest in this group. He quickly revealed his talent and freedom of movement in various themes and genres, from the grotesque, through a morality play, an intimate psychological drama, to classic action movies. He successfully moves to the screens of various filmmakers, such as Edward Redliński (“Awans”), Stanisław Grochowiak (“Partita for a wooden instrument”), Stanisław Dygat (“Lake Constance”), Kazimierz Brandys (“Mother of Kings”), or Maria Nurowska (“Maidens and Widows”). He is a laureate of awards, both Polish and management. Among them there are such prestigious as Silver and Golden Leopard, Silver Bear and Gdynia Golden Lions. “Happy New York” for the next literary adaptation of a piece by Edward Redliński. This time Janusz Zaorski persuades to the drama “Miracle on the Green Point”, in which the author is a person, he turned to the bitter side. The main characters of the film are six Polish emigrants from different backgrounds. They once set out overseas full of faith in the improvement of their fate, but it turned out to be blatantly different from the myth of the “American dream”. Detachment from traditions and cultures, unfamiliarity with the language and realities of New York life, which causes a progressive isolation of newcomers from Poland. The site of them lives on the border of the house, he can hardly cut a penny to a penny, he works from dawn to night. Everyone sends videotapes to Poland, showing the maciejowidity of the image of their own prosperity. The action of the film takes place on three consecutive Sundays before Christmas. Christmas Eve will become an active turning point in the lives of all six heroes. The image of Polish emigration in Zaorski’s film does not differ much from the one recorded in plays such as Sławomir Mrożek and Janusz Głowacki, and in the cinema Jerzy Skolimowski (“Fucha”, “Success is the best revenge”). Talking about the complicated adventures of Asbestos, Potejta, Teriza, Profesor and others, Zaorski “has no more or less information”. The film was restricted by critics and was a hit (about half a million, however). It was here with the participation of many stars of the Polish screen (Cezary Pazura, Bogusław Linda, Janusz Gajos, Katarzyna Figura, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Daniel Olbrychski). The reviewers also praised the director’s skill and advertising, fast pace for narration, good photos, neatly combining tragic with tragic and effectively woven into the plot of music. Award for directing for Janusz Zaorski at the Polish Film Festival in Gdańsk-Gdynia (1997), Golden Ticket at the “Film Pro Expo” fair in Krakow (1997). Drama, 91 min, Poland 1997 Directed by: Janusz Zaorski Script: Edward Redliński, Janusz Zaorski Cinematography: Paweł Edelman Music: Marek Kościkiewicz Actors: Bogusław Linda, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Janusz Gajos, Cezary Pazura, Katarzyna Figura, Rafał Olbrychski, Tara Leone, Eugeniusz Priwiez Priwiez , Danuta Stenka, Liliana Okowity, Katarzyna Szydłowska, Zygmunt Hobot, Sławomir Pacek, Dorota Dobrowolska – Ferenc, Dorota Chotecka, Małgorzata Rożniatowska, Ilja (Igor) Zmjew, Andrzej Wasilewicz and others
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Łukasz Maciejewski:
(…) In retrospect, the entire creative path of Janusz Zaorski appears to be persistent, a person an attempt at mania with the possibilities offered by cinema. A risk that pays off. Zaorski is a successful professional today. In an interview, “I, the heart,” he said, “I got several sources from three sources: from the first films and festival jurors from critics. And from them separately – also. I know what commercial, festival, and private success tastes like. There are various successes. I also know the taste of failure. Summa summarum I was successful. ”
For some time, film historians have tried to include Janusz Zaorski’s work in the same “third cinema”. This was the term used to describe the films of artists who made films at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s (Skolimowski, Majewski, Leszczyński). The term did not survive in the mind, as the work of Janusz Zaorski in the group of “Third Kinsmen” was not, by all means. Perhaps because creating a filmmaker like the author of “Zabawy w chanego” to the group, to create misunderstandings. Zaorski was separate. Separate and smiling. Yes, smiling. – Zaiks Magazine, No. 35/2022
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Katarzyna Figura:
“For years we have associated them with Warsaw theaters – first Contemporary, then Dramatic. Above all, she was called the Polish Marylin Monroe, who was chosen to play in the film POCIĄG DO HOLLYWOOD by Radosław Piwowarski. This role, along with her performance in KINGSAJZ Julia KILERZE, brought her success popularity. She also touched the Dream Factory herself, introduces herself to Robert Altman’s PRĘT-ÀPORTER, Roman Polański’s PIANIST, and then she returned to Poland, a new face appeared, for example in an excellent performance in ŻURK by Ryszard Brylski. They changed, they changed their lives, the members of the team, and then they changed, there is a house in the Tri-City and in the Wybrzeże team. I didn’t manage to build this book on the blackboard because I decided to start a fantastic time professionally for it. In Grzegorz Wiśniewski’s work, she first played the mother on the brink of collapse in BELLA FIGURA, and then she stunned FEDRA – played sparingly, sharply, without tears, but with an immeasurable amount of suffering. She received awards for this creation, including the Grand Prix of Kalisz Theater Meetings for the best actress. In Aeschylus’s TROIANS, the quasi-comedy epilogue of the play belongs to her as Helen. In the BALCONY, also directed by Jan Klata, she daringly entertained herself with the figure of the Judge. He is the star of the Wybrzeże Theater, but he doesn’t do anything about it, always on this stage. Each subsequent show is a potential change in sales. It has been known for a long time that there are artists who come to the Gdańsk theater to act with their thoughts in mind. They know that it is forever for all, getting out with their own, inferior and image-adapted ones, struggling with them. At the same time, it does not disappear from the screen. As the owner of cute bulldogs in SNOW, Małgorzata Szumowska will NEVER be there anymore, she was with this film even at the festival in Venice. ” – Jacek Wakar, album FACES OF THE COUNTRY
Łukasz Maciejewski:
(…) In my book “The Adventure of Thoughts”, when asked about the characteristic feature of her actor, she consults intriguingly: “Maybe I was always not corporeal, physical, but” plant “? As for the fact that I have to cultivate longing, I change in the right direction, this change of turns in me backwards. I live with her for a few weeks or a month, but everything happens – like a plant – at an accelerated pace, more intensely. The plant actor is an actor in a trap, he begins to search and suddenly, in the middle of it, he twists, a new tone, a different accent. But the results can also be unexpected.
Parallel to “Chrzcinami”, on vod, I watched “The Pianist” by Polański. She was there for two minutes. Less than two. As an anti-Semite, Kitty, she let out a roar. It was enough to remember. There are no other episodes from the same movie, but she is. Polański saw it too, and Polański did not interfere. He knew it fit, it was good. In “The Baptism”, he already carries the entire film on his shoulders. Only she is left in the session. Mother Figure. – (“Kaleidoscope of Culture”, June, 2022)