Jerzy Domaradzki Movies
Though born in the Ukraine, filmmaker Jerzy Domaradzki is most closely associated with Poland's film industry. Following his 1974 graduation from the Lodz Film School with a degree in film direction, Domaradzki got his start working as an assistant and second unit director. He then worked with Andrzej Wajda for the "X" film unit. Domaradzki made his feature-film debut in 1975 with Obrazki z Zycia/Pictures From a Life. In addition to his subsequent movie career, Domaradzki also directs television and theatrical productions. In the late '80s, he moved to Australia and in 1988 was appointed director-in-residence at the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School in Sydney. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Loosely based on the real-life story of Bea Miles, an eccentric character living in Sydney, this fine Australian drama tells the tragic tale of Lilian Singer, a woman whose cruel father placed her in a mental institution where she spent forty years. The story looks at the circumstances surrounding her commitment as a young woman, her childhood and life after she is finally released. In the opening scenes, Lilian leaves the asylum and is taken to a seedy downtown hotel frequented by prostitutes and other shady characters. Fortunately, the working girls prove friendly and sympathetic. Lilian becomes convinced that she is in love with a stodgy bank manager, but her love abruptly dies when he calls the police upon her. She next meets her long-lost lover Frank, who has unfortunately turned into an alcoholic and is unable to respond to her. As Lilian has more experiences, flashbacks gradually reveal the terrible things her father did to her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1990
Ollie Rennie (Garry McDonald) really has no business running a caretaking institution of any kind, much less one for the mentally handicapped; he's an alcoholic, has no respect for other people, and persistently tries to put the make on an unwilling social worker. All the same, he runs an institution of just that kind, with the unappealing name of "Saltmarsh." Things at the school get considerably livelier when a new man comes onto the scene. Pat (Brian Vriends) was doing just fine as a physical education instructor at a school for "normal" kids, but one day he went on a rampage against junk food, destroying the school snack bar in the process, and was quickly fired. Despite his recent reversal, he is upbeat about his new job. He decides to engage these hopelessly uncoordinated kids in soccer matches. They compete against themselves and against regular kids. Needless to say, they lose against the regular kids, but one day one of their number actually manages to score against one of them, and there are celebrations all round. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Garry McDonald, Catherine McClements, (more)
- 1987
This erotic drama based on the novel by Julius Kaden Bandrowski takes place in Poland during World War I. The heroine, Maryska (Grazyna Trela) is an aristocrat whose husband is missing in action. Rather than mourning his absence, she promptly falls into bed with Professor Ciaglewicz (Jerry Stuhr), one of her husband's friends, but before long seems to have fallen in love with Adam Korwski (Henryk Bista), a seventeen year old boy, who is the son of people she is visiting. The randy older woman initiates the shy youth into sexuality, making love with him in a large variety of ways and positions. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jerzy Stuhr, Henryk Bista, (more)
- 1985
An expedition into the fictional land of Karistan brings a geologist (Christopher Lloyd) and his son into contact with the "witch," a white horse with the power to transform into a dragon. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- 1983
Within this culturally-centered tale of a Polish star-gazer obsessed with finding a new planet on the outskirts of the universe, lie allusions to the socio-political situation in Poland in the early 1980s that only a Pole at the time might fully understand. The story evolves around a tailor who is hospitalized for kidney problems and during a brief coma becomes convinced he was somehow joined to the distant stars. After he emerges from the hospital he talks the villagers into helping him build a major telescope, and his enthusiasm is contagious. For some reason, no one questions the fact that he has no training and no degree in astronomy -- until he starts getting a little static from the town elders when the Soviet Union does not like anyone outside of their space program taking unauthorized photos with a telescope (the first Sputnik was just sent up). The rude awakening will come when the tailor heads off to his first major astronomy conference, facing professionals for the first time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Slawomira Lozinska, Liliana Glabczynska, (more)
- 1981
Designed by a shameless official as an anti-capitalist propaganda crusade, a three-day marathon race is sabotaged by a dissident who steals the running shoe of the hand-picked favorite. Budny and Stolar are two particular contestants who are highlighted here. Budny is a man with a hidden agenda; his father is held prisoner by the militia and Budny wishes to run the race in order to get close enough to the president -- who will present the awards to the winners -- to make a plea for his father's release. Conversely, Stolar is a self-serving loser who finagles his entry into the race and then turns his lecherous attention to a young woman working for the Party. A vicious indictment of Polish Communist Party officials of the Stalinist era, this symbolic film remained on the shelf for six years before being officially released to appear at the Sydney Film Festival in 1987. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tadeusz Bradecki, Jaroslaw Kopaczewski, (more)
- 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, Rovi
- Starring:
- Andrzej Pieczynski
