It's difficult not to compare Cold War to Ida because of the black and white cinematography and the 4:3 aspect ratio, but that is where the similarities end. Although I prefer Ida thematically (I’m not much of a romance person), Cold War is an improvement for Pawlikowski in many ways.

While the cinematography in Ida was appropriately minimalistic, the camerawork in Cold War is ambitious and rich with life, much like the characters and music that the film centers on. I cannot emphasize just how impressive and—yes, I will repeat myself—ambitious the cinematography is, especially in the dance and concert scenes. It is executed so flawlessly and with meticulous precision—for the first time in my life, I cannot complain about a film being out of focus—yet it it has a graceful fluidity and does not seem overly planned. In a similar vein, the shot composition seemed to be more naturalistic while still having form, and I appreciated the variety of shot types that Cold War offered (also an improvement from Ida). (Not to mention that as a pianist myself, those shots of the pianist’s hands reflected on the fall-board made me squeal internally with delight.) All things considered, the cinematography of this film left me truly lost for words, and it is something I will likely ramble on about until the end of my days.

As if its visual presentation weren’t impressive enough, the less technical aspects of Cold War knocked me off my feet. I cannot express just how masterful Pawlikowski’s attention to detail is. The contrast between the styles of music, sets, and overall tone in France and Poland bring discernible atmospheres to the settings without being in your face, while the makeup and acting brought so many subtle elements that elevated the emotional arc of the film. Joanna Kulig’s performance in particular was filled with so much nuance (from her evolution in facial expressions to her changing style of singing), while the collected and oft-frigid Tomasz Kot was a perfect counterbalance to her electric performance. And the music and choreography, of course, were impressively—there I’m using it again—well done and complemented the film perfectly.

With so much going for it, Pawlikowski set the stage for a masterpiece, which—despite what I said above—Cold War regrettably is not. My biggest issues with this film are the story and the way it is told. One moment, the film shows the protagonists crushing on each other, the next, they have sex, and then the film cuts to two years into their relationship. This leaves the audience with a huge gap in the progression of their relationship and any opportunity to introduce any meaningful themes in their love story (aside from the “Hearts” song, which ultimately served no purpose to the film). As a result, it leaves you wondering what exactly these characters love about each other and what the nature of their relationship is like, which hinders the emotional impact of their separation. It was quite honestly difficult to care for the protagonists’ relationship, and the editing did not help either. In one scene where the characters are arguing, the scene just cuts to black at the height of their tension, which hampered any potential pivotal emotional moment the film could have had.

Another thing I did not like was an instance of dialogue in which the main characters discuss why Zula did not escape the first time, and she mentions her concern with her unworthiness, which is something that is never touched on again in the film. Similarly, another aspect of the characters that seemed a bit unfounded was Wiktor’s progressive ignoring of Zula, which was completely inexplicable in my opinion and further muddled their already somewhat confusing relationship. Last, I unfortunately did not like how this film ended. It felt like the director was just trying to emphasize how tragic this star-crossed love is by having the characters needlessly commit suicide. From what I could tell, there really was no reason for them to do so if they were keen on escaping again. This isn't the only instance in which I was left baffled by character decisions—in fact, I found numerous actions that the protagonists took in pivotal moments of the film to be confusing.

However, there were other moments of storytelling and dialogue that were executed masterfully. My favorite is probably one of the bathroom scenes, in which the screenwriters took the “character saying what they feel instead of showing it” cliche and actually made it purposeful. I am referring to the scene in which Zula gets drunk and talks to herself about her feelings for Wiktor and the start of their emotional issues. Her intoxicated state justifies this moment of dialogue while simultaneously revealing aspects of her character and her feelings that could not have been revealed in any other way, all the while propelling the story forward. This was something I just found impressive (I really am running out of words to express my admiration for this film).

One last thing that is imperative for me to mention is the politics of this movie. While the politics of the Cold War don’t overshadow this film’s story, the conflict itself inevitably plays a prominent role in the characters’ main conflict. And even though the film is set in Cold War era Poland, Pawlikowski touched the subject matter and setting with such grace that I never felt any sort of bias. Instead of romanticizing one side of the conflict, demonizing the other, and creating caricatures as a result, Pawlikowski simply showed what was occurring at the time and what people thought of it, which I just think is nothing short of commendable.

Despite its issues, the strengths of Pawlikowski’s Cold War more than make up for its flaws and are a reminder of just why I love its director’s approach to filmmaking so much. Cold War takes everything good about its director and uses it to craft his greatest work to date.

8/10