Rating: 4/5
Every once in a while a short film comes along showcasing the talents of someone who truly understands the medium in which they work. This is the case with Grzegorz Cisiecki’s short film, Smoke (original title: Dym).
Smoke does not have a narrative per se, Cisiecki describes the film as “the story of the person who became the captive of surrealistic madness” and while I’ve read a couple of interpretations of the film, I’m not going to tackle one here. The film lacks dialog, but this is not a hindrance, as the film unfolds it’s easy to get sucked in by the surreal images that are carefully moved along by the score provided by Aleksandr Porach and Rashid Brocca.
It’s safe to say that the works of surrealist director David Lynch are an influence to Cisiecki. The overall tone of the film is very much in the style of Lynch, from the characters, to the sets and the music, but with the help of cinematographer Dawid Rymar, Cisiecki lends his own vision to these surreal moments. Cisiecki is certainly an up and coming director to watch out for. More could be said about Smoke, but I think it’s best to jump right into this seven minutes of surrealism.
Director: Grzegorz Cisiecki
Writer: Grzegorz Cisiecki
Cast: Katarzyna Dalek, Grzegorz Golaszewski, Hubert Jarczak
Runtime: 7 minutes
Country: Poland
