Ida (2014)

Load of rubbish!!

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I believe they call this kind of film 'world building.' It's an apt description of the results of a talented production team using budget and effects to sustain a convincing environment in which you can immerse yourself. In my view, such is the potency of projects like this, actors are there primarily to compliment this imagined civilisation. In 1982, the original 'Blade Runner' achieved this perverse enigma very convincingly. Here all these years later, is the sequel.There was some mild controversy concerning original composer Vangelis not being assigned to provide a soundtrack for this, but Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer's score is impossible to fault. Vast, weird, laced with industrial swirls and chunky klaxons. Denis Villeneuve's direction is vast and eccentric, exactly as it should be, and the myriad of art directors ensure that the society, the interiors, the streets, even the habitat of Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford of course: grizzled, isolated, but still very much the same character we knew 35 years ago) is as impressive and spacious as it could be, an arena so absorptive and convincing, you can completely drink it in. My problem is, at 2 hrs 44 minutes, I really felt the need for a change of flavour after a while.It's impossible to be impressed at wonderful representations of an intricately carved tale for that length of time with no change of tone throughout, no levity, no particular sense of strident drama and only an irregular threat (Sylvia Hoek's splendid Luv). We have K (Ryan Gosling) and his girlfriend Joi (Ana de Armas, who, as a perfectly pouting, characterless hologram, is very good) and the very slow story of Deckard's 'improbable' child Rachael, and the long trek to locate her. It is good, but thinly stretched over such huge running time. Wrapping it in the beauty of almost overwhelming effects and atmosphere is an impressive compensation, however.

Ida is a film I have thoroughly loved, and watched multiple times since it was released in the US a few years back. And after each time I view it, I discover something new from the film's subtle dialogue and symbolism(honestly, I think if I spoke Polish, I would have picked up on most of it after a viewing or two). Not only is it a great watch, adding a fresh perspective to the much covered topic of the Holocaust, but it, also, I believe, taps deeply into questions central to modern- day Polish national identity.The film's main focus is the investigation and interactions of the titular character and her aunt, in search of the brutal truth of what happened to their family during World War 2. Both characters are total(almost comically) opposites, a stiff, virginal, young nun and an old, sarcastic, heavy-drinking, and promiscuous communist judge(dealing solely with political crimes), infamously nicknamed "Iron Wanda".Their dichotomy is important in cordoning-off the two main themes the film explores through each character, the confrontation/void left by/effects of trauma(Aunt Wanda) and the search for/questioning of/choice of identity(Ida). Together, both characters discover the devastating truth, but, in doing so, make a deal that leaves them emotionally ruined(an ironic twist considering Wanda's profession and, most likely, her reason for choosing the job).The stark black & white color palette, confrontational close-ups, off-centered scene-framing, and total lack of musical accompaniment magnifies the discomfort and underlying sense of societal betrayal/injustice. Oddly, what seems to be at the center of the story, the events surrounding the Holocaust, are hardly discussed, instead, filled with long silences and empty spaces, communicating feelings of shame and guilt. A seemingly cosmic silence in response to such a horrible crime.What makes Ida unique is that it's a story filmed after the main drama has occurred, instead, focusing on its long-reaching impact. After coming full circle, learning the truth of her identity, and her parents past, both Ida and Wanda are left as weaker people, each imprisoned by a truth too difficult to confront.

I read some of the reviews here and was quite surprised about the negativity. I had seen the movie some time ago and re-watched it selectively today after a conversation I had yesterday about the movie with a Polish friend. So the movie is "melodramatic", the story is improbable, just another predictable Holocaust drama, Agata Trzebuchowska (playing Ida) cannot act, the plot is not pure enough … and so it goes on. I grew up in post-war Berlin, in the West, being clearly aware of life behind the iron curtain. My Polish friend grew up in post-war Poland. The atmosphere of the movie is drenched in the big Eastern European post-war gray. I doubt many reviewers here on IMDb know this big gray from their own experience. They never saw it, they never heard of it, they couldn't tell whether it's authentic or not. Let me assure you: it is. This movie takes place in a perfectly subdued setting, the boredom or suffocation or meaninglessness in its naturally slow pace is omnipresent and revokes those almost forgotten times. Instead of interpreting this as "mannerism" it should be taken for what it is: a true reminiscence. And so are the moments of freedom and joy of life, which could easily be suppressed at any time for each individual but not for society as a whole. Ida's love scenes are not acted well? Is that supposed to be a joke? It's acted perfectly well. In fact, it could not be any better. It's heartbreaking. And so is the whole development of her quiet character. And, yes, it does develop. It grows up. Wanda's entanglement being victim and offender at the same time has the proportions of Greek tragedy. It may be exaggerated or rather excessive and therefore melodramatic. It still is lame against the reality of the Holocaust. I loved Wanda because she was strong, alive and fragile, I cried for her when I learned about her son, I pitied her, because I knew she was cruel and merciless almost as a matter of course. Her cruelty was a reflection of another much bigger cruelty. Is that so clichéd? She had no right to survive (this movie) – maybe that was a Hollywood-moment. Who cares? Great impressive movie for people who don't mind a little pathos and big feelings. All who prefer pop-culture life-style movies should stay away. You'll hate this movie and, frankly, I would not really care to educate you.

Small but brilliant film that claims a cinematographic language, sometimes forgotten, in which each shot and each picture is a fine work of jewelry in black and white. I am thinking in Bergman and of course in The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). A movie of minimal artifice, meticulous in each shot but austere, about clear and light intimacy, made of simple visual harmony. Its succession of perfect images provides a very pleasant aesthetic experience. A simple heroic journey of a strange couple (aunt and niece) with conflicts portrayed through discreet, serene and restrained interpretations but that are very believable regarding the environment in which the story unfolds. Highly recommended although just for public who could enjoy with the preciosity of a vintage photo exhibition.