Walkover

Sep 13, 2011

(Jerzy Skolimowski, 1965, Poland, 35mm, 77 min)

Skolimowski’s follow-up to Identification Marks: None and the second in the Andrej Leszczyc quartet, Walkover highlights the more surreal, vaguely comedic aspects of life in 1960s Poland. It picks up Andrej’s story a few years down the line, after his return from military service, while he is struggling to find a job. To make ends meet he boxes in amateur fights, selling his prizes. Still alienated and aimless, he drifts through fights and affairs with glum resignation, seemingly driven by nothing but resistance to mainstream life. Filmed with the same long takes and aggressive angles employed in Identification Marks: None and voiced over with Skolimowski’s richly visual poetry, Walkover conveys the frustration and ennui of Skolimowski’s own generation.

Screens with three of Skolimowski’s early shorts: The Menacing Eye (Oko wykol, 1960, 2 mins); Little Hamlet (Hamles, 1960, 8 mins); Erotique (Erotyk, 1960, 3 mins). (B&W, 35mm, From Polish National Film, Television, and Theatre School, Lodz, total running time 90min) 

“Skolimowski’s long takes are as exciting and distinctive as those of Kalatazovor Janscó.”—Chris Fujiwara, Moving Image Source

<Back to Calendar