Ida: Paweł Pawlikowski

So, I finally got around to seeing Paweł Pawlikowski's Ida (2013). What a monstrously disappointing film. It doesn't have a single original thought. Instead, it counterfeits themes that have been milked ad infinitum by other, better European filmmakers (and a few American ones, too): distrust towards the Church, a recognition of the horrors of Europe's past without outright condemning them (or offering ways they could be made up for), the importance of sexual discovery (oh wait, make that HETERONORMATIVE sexual discovery) as a rite of self passage as if asexuals and sex-repulsed people didn't exist, and a stoic resignation towards the future. It isn't brave enough to emulate Luis Buñuel's anti-clericalism, bold enough for Tarr's nihilism, or intelligent enough for Bergman's introspection. Worst of all, it makes no attempt to establish its own identity.

6/10