Urszula Modrzinska Movies
- 1977
These three films by young directors follow the adventures of two young aspiring film stars, Pawel and Anka. The first "Anka," (Daria Trafankowska) shows her as a slightly overweight girl, just graduating from school, making plans to attend her first screen tests. She has an exploitative affair with a boy during the summer holiday. The story of "Pawel" shows a stage-struck youth, just entering adulthood, who has a brief affair with a mature woman. He is outraged when she will not leave her husband and child for him. In "Anka and Pawel," the two meet at the film try-outs, and become finalists together. They also have a brief affair. However, when Anka uses her experiences with him as the basis for a requested improvisational scene, Pawel furiously flees and rides around the countryside sulking. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrzej Pieczynski
Also known as Knights of the Teutonic Order, this historic epic is set in 15th-century Poland, during the time of the Teutonic invasion. Danusia (Grazyna Staniszewska), daughter of warrior Jurandt (Andrzej Szalawski), is in love with firebrand Zbyszko (Mieczylaw Kalenik). Zbyszko has sworn to avenge the death of Danusia's mother at the hands of the invaders. When he is captured by the Teutonic hordes, it is Danusia who comes to his rescue. Shortly thereafter, Danusia and Jurandt are captured and tortured. Zbyszko embarks upon a long odyssey to rescue his beloved, but by the time he finds her, she has been driven insane. After three hours' worth of Knights of the Black Cross (Polish title: Krzyzacy), the viewer might also feel a little touched in the head. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Urszula Modrzinska, Grazyna Staniszewska, (more)
A Generation is the first of Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda's "underground trilogy"-and also Wajda's first-ever feature film. Originally titled Pokolenie, the film dissects the impact that World War II had on the youth of Poland. Tadevsz Lomnicki plays an impressionable young Warsaw resident who falls in love with resistance leader Ursula Modrzinska. The passion they feel towards their cause is inextricably entwined with the intensity of their feelings towards one another. During several crucial moments, the director contrasts the "official" version of wartime events with the actual facts (many experienced first-hand by Wajda), partly as a means of explaining the peacetime disillusionment of so many young Poles. As a result, the film was subject to an overabundance of government interference when it was first released. Watch closely in the Underground scenes of A Generation and you'll spot a young Roman Polanski. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tadeusz Lomnicki, Urszula Modrzinska, (more)
