Overhaul of original equipment

Jerzy Skolimowski has never been the conventional type. Having made his name as part of the Polish New Wave scene in the 1960s, he made gripping British dramas in the 1970s and 1980s, and in 2010 he cast Vincent Gallo as a kind of Taliban fighter in a survival thriller. essential murder. In the meantime, she has tried her hand at acting: in one of her latest works, Black Widow by Scarlett Johansson, she gave her a whim in 2012. united avengers. Predictably, it’s unpredictable, so it makes sense that his latest film is a breathtaking 86-minute odyssey that follows a donkey through Poland. HEY it is very loosely inspired by the work of Robert Bresson Random Balthazar, but concept aside, it is maximum Skolimowski. And maximum ass.

Co-written with his wife Ewa Piaskowska, it introduces us to the sweet and docile EO (played by six donkeys), whose journey begins after a circus goes bankrupt. This means that he is estranged from Kasandra (Sandra Drzymalska), the human circus worker who adores him, and as he travels the country, his fortunes fluctuate. If it sounds like a good Pixar movie, well, no. Skolimowski is not one to be ashamed of harsh realities, and here we have some random acts of violence. people die. Someone’s neck is severed. Animals are killed. And if you hate to watch a donkey lose perspective, this might not be the movie for you.

There’s a lot to do here. To this tenacity is added a mischievous humour, something deadpan, something burlesque, something involving Isabelle Huppert (in the strangest and most shocking sequence in the film). Much of it is just stunning, Skolimowski enslaved by the natural world and the ass of him. Cinematographer Michal Dymek provides calm and tender close-ups of EO, as well as some quite lyrical images. A camera drone presumably zooms through a red-filtered forest. A Steadicam follows EO through a tunnel besieged by bats. River water is filmed in the form of fractals. A dead bird, fallen from the sky, hits a forest floor. The terrible horror of life.

Accompanying it all is Pawel Mykietyn’s score, which treats EO in a profound, reverent and epic way. A terrifying soundtrack for pasta eaters. A garden gate opens and it seems the splendor. Heavy metal gives way to Beethoven. And sometimes the music seems to lean into EO’s mood. Skolimowski isn’t afraid to suggest that EO has as many emotions as we do, giving him dream sequences, or at least memories of happier times with Kasandra. There’s a spiritual quality to EO, and it’s strange and moving.

EO is overshadowed by the natural world and people. Skolimowski, 84, appears to be getting tired of humans. Certainly those who are not kind to animals. In the HEY, life is beautiful, majestic, horrible and terrifying. Shit falls, just because. We go on until death.