{"id":20839,"date":"2020-07-15T14:37:49","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T21:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=20839"},"modified":"2020-07-15T14:37:49","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T21:37:49","slug":"the-painted-bird-shocks-and-horrifies-but-makes-a-lasting-impression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=20839","title":{"rendered":"THE PAINTED BIRD Shocks and Horrifies, But Makes a Lasting Impression"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This title from IFC Films will be available for streaming\non most platforms as of Friday, July 17th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking for a bit of fun or escapism at the movies? Well, if you like light and frothy entertainment, you\u2019ve clicked on the wrong link. The Painted Bird<\/em> is a Czech film based on the novel by Jerzy Kosi\u0144ski. This feature is about as bleak and downbeat as it gets. In fact, it probably falls into the upper echelon of most depressing movies ever made. At times, it\u2019s a harrowing experience to endure. Still, while this movie is most certainly not for casual viewers, it is exceptionally well shot and performed as it details the depths and atrocious horrors that human beings are capable of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story is set during World War II and is told entirely from\nthe point of view of Joska (Petr\nKotl\u00e1r), a young boy living in the sticks with his aunt. When his\nguardian meets an unexpected end, the youngster is forced to venture out and\nsurvive in the wild. A series of vignettes follow as Joska encounters new families\nor strangers and spends some time with them, before realizing he needs to escape.\nOver the course of these episodes, the boy comes into contact with a mean old\nhag, ignorant and violent villagers, a jealous and abusive husband, church\nofficials, a father forcing himself on his daughter, soldiers committing\ngenocidal acts and, well, even more other shocking sights. In addition to the\nmany Eastern European performers, the cast also includes appearances by Udo Kier,\nStellan Skarsg\u00e5rd, Harvey Keitel, Julian Sands and Barry Pepper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned previously, this is an unrelenting experience.\nThe film unfolds at a measured pace for nearly three hours and every new\nsituation yields yet another uncomfortable or unsettling revelation. There\u2019s\nabsolutely no humor on display over almost all of the running time and no\nrelief. From a narrative point of view, this approach could have been very troublesome\nto deal with. The weight and heaviness on display grows ever more dispiriting as\nthe movie progresses. Early on, one almost begins to analyze each situation and\ntry to guess what awful event awaits the protagonist. As strange a compliment\nas this may be, each bleak scene still makes an impact, with many dispiriting\nthe viewer in unexpected ways. Admittedly, some scenarios are more involving\nthan others, but the movie still keeps one attention, hoping (perhaps in vain)\nfor some kind of resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are a couple of quieter moments and one of two\nglimpses of humanity on display, but they are few and far between. The movie\nalso does its best not to rely on sentiment. Its lead character isn\u2019t innocent\nfor long in this film and doesn\u2019t always act like a doe-eyed victim. As events\nprogress and Joska is abused again and again, his character begins to change. He\nbecomes a mute observer to the harsh world and is influenced by his experiences.\nLate in the film, he becomes as icy and vicious as some of his tormentors and\nacts out in just as brutal and damaged a fashion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film boasts appropriately moody black and white cinematography\nwith dark, gray colors. Despite grim color palette, there are some remarkably\nsharp and dynamic shots of the wilderness, as well as striking images of the\ncharacters in despair. There is even a memorable angle of Joska and a soldier pensively\nsitting in a tree with the camera pointed downwards. Even if what is happening\nonscreen is difficult to watch, the technical skills on display are first rate and\nit\u2019s all beautifully photographed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While not\nexcessively graphic, the quiet emotional toll of pain and suffering is on full display\nhere, creating a general feeling of helplessness. There isn\u2019t a character (or\neven an animal) in the movie who isn\u2019t or doesn\u2019t end up traumatized by the\nworld around them. Perhaps the most telling scene involves a bird being nursed\nback to health and painted in order to help it find its way back to its flock.\nEven avian creatures display the same kind of suspicion, hate and viciousness\ntowards their own kind. The movie does offer a glimmer of hope and\nempathy here and there towards the finale, but it can\u2019t help but feel fleeting.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Painted Bird<\/em> is at times an ordeal to sit through, just as the situation is for its characters. So much so that while the feature has won numerous awards at film festivals, screenings have resulted in portions of the audience walking out of the theater. Still, its uncompromising take on the source material is something to be admired and the end result does make one yearn to be a more empathetic human being. The movie may not deliver its message in a way that will speak or appeal to the average moviegoer, but it does make a lasting impression.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This title from IFC Films will be available for streaming on most platforms as of Friday, July 17th. Looking for a bit of fun or escapism at the movies? Well, if you like light and frothy entertainment, you\u2019ve clicked on the wrong link. The Painted Bird is a Czech film based on the novel by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,2321,3295,5027,5029,6251,8924,9877,10629,11145,16012,19013,21814,21815,21816,21817,23189,23462,23959,24534],"class_list":["post-20839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-barry-pepper","tag-book-adaptation","tag-czech","tag-czechia","tag-drama","tag-harvey-keitel","tag-interslavic","tag-jerzy-kosinski","tag-julian-sands","tag-petr-kotlar","tag-stellan-skarsgard","tag-the-painted-bird","tag-the-painted-bird-film-review","tag-the-painted-bird-movie-review","tag-the-painted-bird-review","tag-tragedy","tag-udo-kier","tag-war","tag-wwii"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}