Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

dromasca Revisiting the work of Krzysztof Kieslowski is a very special experience, both from a cinematographic and a historical point of view. I have seen the 'Decalogue' series almost 30 years ago, and A Short Film About Killing was part of it, in its shorter version. The time that passed since its release and the abrupt ending of the career and then of the life of Kieslowski provide a very different perspective. His films may be the same, and he certainly was one of the greatest film directors of his time and of all times. I had the chance to grow older, see more cinema and accumulate more life experience. The perspective is different, the way we read and understand his movies changed.By 1988 making such a film in Poland meant taking sides from a political, from a moral, and from an artistic point of view. The 80s had begun with the Solidarity movement in Poland which gave the sign of the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe at the end of the decade, but in the meantime military rule was imposed and freedom of art expression was limited. Film directors like Wajda took the more political path in their films, while Kieslowski chose the more subtle way of making the ten films that illustrate the Commandments placed in the realities of his country and of his time. 'A Short Film About Killing' deals with the 5th commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' in a superbly constructed plead against the death penalty. The first part of the film builds in a Hitchcock style the story of a murder with no apparent reasons (Truman Capote's 'In Cold Blood' comes to mind) . Three characters belonging with three parallel threads will eventually meet in a violent and absurd event. But is not any murder an absurd and repelling event? The second part deals with the punishment of the crime. The young man who committed the murder is tried and condemned to death. We follow his last hours, we start understanding his background, and then, he dies. Absurd as well. An eloquent but one sided demonstration, as his victim has never any chance of pleading for his right to live. This is - maybe - the only flaw of the moral judgment in this story.The construction of the story is perfect. Some of the images remind the French New Wave gangster films, but the background is the tern and grey landscape of Poland with the impersonal architecture that spread over all Eastern Europe. Kieslowski does here one more trick - he used different color filters for each frame that sometime impose yellow or green nuances to the image, some other time darken part of the screen. It's just one more visual comment to emphasize the atmosphere of decay - moral, social, human decay. So far we are from the rosy nuances of the fake 'socialist realism' style. Acting is superb, as in many Polish films of that period, with Miroslaw Baka, shining in the lead role and Krzysztof Globisz supporting him as the lawyer who may be the only positive character in the story. Overall, this film keeps all its dramatic and moral value in time, but also is enriched by the political dimension it receives in the perspective of the time. One of Kieslowski's best movies - highly recommended.

TheLittleSongbird The more work I see of Krzysztof Kieslowski, the stronger the feeling that he was an incredibly gifted director, responsible for some brilliant work, taken from us too soon.Have yet to see anything bad from him, with even my least favourite (the eighth episode of 'Dekalog') still being very good, with the masterful 'Dekalog' and 'Three Colors: Red' (all three "Three Colors" films are must watches, but especially 'Red') being particularly great. Originally the fifth episode of 'Dekalog', and one of its finest episodes, 'A Short Film About Killing' was expanded into a feature length film and the result is something quite brilliant.As ever, 'A Short Film About Killing' is visually striking, gritty yet beautiful with many thoughtful and emotionally powerful images lingering long into the memory. Kieslowski's direction is quietly unobtrusive, intelligently paced and never too heavy, and the music is suitably intricate.On top of that, the story is creepy (reminding any Fyodor Dostoyevsky readers of 'Crime and Punishment') with some shocking scenes and a wide range of emotions. It really shows Kieslowski's mastery of narrative construction and also was impressed with how the subject matter was told very matter of factly but still with incredible emotional power.The themes and ideals are used to full potential, and the characters and their relationships and conflicts feel so real and emotionally resonant without being heavy-handed. The sparse dialogue is bleak, thought-provoking with some real pathos at times, parts that really chill and some subtle black humour. The complexity and nuance of the acting is to be very much admired, with Mirosław Baka's once seen never forgotten performance standing out.All in all, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox

swissguy-176-727028 As with many Kieslowski films it starts slowly and one can be tempted to give up but it is never a good idea as most Kieslowski films end up leaving you changed should you watch them to the end. This one did not disappoint. "A Short Film about Killing" is not any easy film. There are graphic scenes. While this film made me disgusted by the brutality of the main characters senseless act the brutality of the state also disgusted me. Though I felt no empathy towards the young man I was repulsed by the state's behaviour. Brutal murder does not negate brutal murder. All the state does when it kills someone as retribution is increase the murder rate. I recommend this film. Kieslowski deals with brutality in a far less morally high handed way than Michael Hanneke does and, I think, his message is all the stronger for it.

tieman64 Dead cats, dead rats, rusting vehicles and dilapidated buildings...Kieslowski's "A Short Film About Killing" opens with supreme bleakness. Everything that follows is equally grim, from Kieslowski's subject matter, to his characters, to his cinematography itself. Indeed, often entire chunks of Kieslowski's frame are smudged in grime, the director using over six hundred green filters to convey an ambiance of decay and gloom.The plot? Twenty year old Jacek is a seemingly normal young man. We watch as he goes through his day, wandering around town but rarely interacting with anyone. Gradually we sense that something is wrong with Jacek. He bumps violently into a group of people, throws a rock off a bridge and ominously plays with a piece of rope. Then suddenly, without warning, Jacek murders a cab driver. The murder is apparently the longest in film history, lasting over 7 minutes.Jacek is captured by the police and tried. An idealistic lawyer named Piotr is tasked with defending him, but Piotr fails and Jacek is given the death sentence. Before the execution, the young criminal spends some time in a cell with his attorney, telling fragments of his life. He paints a miserable picture, but we never quite sympathise with him. Maybe we shouldn't. Moments later he is sentenced to death. We watch for long minutes (5mins) as the state kills Jacek.Whilst it is Kieslowski's intent to contrast and compare the two murders - both actions are brutal, senseless and barbaric - it's hard to gauge his moral position, or indeed if he is attempting to offer any. Is it wrong to kill, no matter who does the killing? If death is the highest form of violence, is capitalism punishment itself unjust?7.5/10 - A slow and bleak film, which worked much better as a 1 hour segment in Dekalog. The film is ripe with symbolism (it begins with a dead rat, then a dead cat, then a dog, then a man, then a murderer, then a state lawyer- ie cycle of killers, preys and predators) and has some nice brooding cinematography, but doesn't ask enough questions: What instigated Jacek's actions? How can we help people like Jacek more effectively? How can we prevent these causes? Is a percentage of society simply doomed, by circumstance, to "malfunction"? Do we treat this malfunction by killing them and ridding ourselves of the problem?