Journals Showcase (Witryna Czasopism.pl)

Not only misfortunes always come in pairs, or even groups, but so do celebrations. In my family January is a wildly “celebrative” month. My nephew’s birthday, my parents’ wedding anniversary (it must have been quite a ball, as people recall two dates, two weeks apart from each other), my dad’s name-day, my sister’s birthday, my name-day, the Chinese New Year... To all that, last January the monthly magazine “Kino” celebrated its 40th birthday – Karolina Wajda wrote about it in the “Journals Showcase”. But, thanks God, February came, and I can fully enjoy the lack of any festivities. And no stupid Valentine’s Day is going to spoil that.

There is so much cinema on the pages of the February, post-birthday issue of “Kino”, that I don’t know where to start from. Let’s take it from the beginning. The cover greets us with a pleasant still from “Brokeback Mountain” (the Polish title has a mysterious “Mystery of... ” added to it), a film directed by Ang Lee, the maker of “Sense and Sensibility”. Attention: “Brokeback Mountain” is a masterpiece. Mark my words, as I have seen it with my own eyes – on a pre-opening show for a so called “regular audience” (the “extraordinary” critics have their own shows). I dare say on this occasion that Wojciech Wencel (a Gdansk based poet, essayist, and laureate of the Kościelski Prize – as “Ozon” justly reminds what I have forgotten) has not seen the film. If my theory is right, paradoxically it benefits Wencel, explaining the rubbish written by him in his “Ozon” column (6/2006), dedicated to Ang Lee’s film, among other things. But, let us drop the curtain of irony upon that, and move a level up the magazine ladder, to stop for a moment by the “Arte” magazine. In its 2/2006 issue Piotr K., a Ph.D. in film history and a real macho (first-hand knowledge), renders his account of, quote, “mushy-cushy tent frolics of the faggot characters of ‘Brokeback Mountain’”. For a second there I thought we are talking about two different movies (the title controversy!), but I quickly came to see that I simply have a larger vocabulary then K. (“The boundaries of my language are the boundaries of my world”, said Wittengstein, unfortunately – using K.’s vocabulary – a faggot). Maybe K. should note the following in his vocabulary notebook: “sexual intercourse”, “kisses”, “hugs”, “caressing”, even “fondling”, while erasing the phrase “faggot characters”, instead of which he could simply use “gay men” or just “characters”.

With the above mentioned examples of a scandalous reception of Ang Lee’s film in the background, “Kino” appears to be a shining light, and so does its editor, Andrzej Kołodyński who – maybe thanks to his masculine maturity - writes wise and significant words. Kołodyński understands that malice is deceitfully photogenic, and – as we can tell from his text – he seeks for something more then that. Who knows – maybe for a temporarily re-established truth? Following Kołodyński’s trail, I’ll say in my own carefully weighed words: “Brokeback Mountain” shows truth – truth about existence. The Postmodernists impersonated by some Polish cultural expert will probably throw themselves barking at the word “truth”. Too bad.

Kołodyński is a mature critic. But maturity is not necessarily a function of age. Let’s take a Michał Oleszczyk – being just 23 years old, what wisdom does he speak! Oleszczyk is a “Kino” critic, although “Arte” has also printed him. And thus in the February issue he writes a mere few sentences on “Capote”, giving the film a full treatment in “Kino”. It is a rare species of homage, as it does not mention the film itself at all. Oleszczyk’s article (Ariel w celi smierci “Ariel in the Condemned Ward”) is not about the film “Capote”, but about Capote, Truman Capote, the American writer and the film’s title character. A review was scribbled by Kacper Jeżewski, who insists that he has seen the film. On my side, I insist that no one has seen Jeżewski. And may “Kino’s” Antoni Garbaczewski, Mikołaj Halicki and Kamil Rudziński try to prove me wrong. Anyway, the potential Jeżewski found gaping at the screen for a definite period of time satisfactory. Oleszczyk was more ambitious: he devoured a fat Capote biography (the film’s groundwork, as they say), fell in love with Capote’s writing and picked the most savoury pieces out of both. He informs that Capote... quote: “ became the best known gay male of his time.” Further on we read that he was such a great artist that nobody dared challenge him. Something positive, at least. As for the film itself, I admit I – naturally – love Philip Seymour-Hoffman, playing the main character, but closer to my heart is Catherine Keener, playing Harper Lee (Capote’s friend, the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird”). And while I would gladly rip the Best Male Performance Academy Award out of Hoffman’s hand (he’s almost got it) to see it in the hands of Heath Ledger of “Brokeback Mountain”, I will grieve heavily if Catherine Keener will not be present amongst the Academy Award’s laureates (I still can’t get over the fact that she wasn’t awarded for playing Maxine in “Being John Malkovitch”). Sure, I’d like my opinion to be taken into account, but I might as well dream on. If the Academy Award givers make fools of themselves, forgetting the lesson of the disgracefully omitted “Elephant Man”, they will be shamed in mine and history’s, eyes.

“Ścinki” – Bożena Janicka’ column – is “Kino’s” fixed element. This time Janicka belies Aleksander Sokurow’s “Father and Son”, or at least the director’s statements on his work. Once again homosexuality is at stake. Janicka did not dare presume that Sokurow’s madness might hide some kind of method. Maybe an embarrassing one. Treat artists with greater gentleness, I plead, as all they need is our love.

Maciej Stroiński
Translated by Michał Kwiatkowski

Discussed journals: Kino