screaminmimi This film carries the same spirit and almost the same story as "Nobody Knows" (Daremo Shiranai) by Hirokazu Kore-Eda. It is truthfully told without resorting to feel-good plot twists, and earns its laughs and tears honestly. If anything, it continually points the viewer to the underlying rottenness of anything or anybody superficially attractive. Children's laughter is stained either with cruelty, substance abuse or deep sorrow. The adults are either mean and domineering, self-absorbed, or kind but powerless to help. There's only an ineffectual hint of adult protectiveness of a throw-away child, and even the police respond with annoyance rather than genuine concern for the welfare of the 11-year-old boy who is at the center of this story.Unlike other reviewers, I don't think this movie is too pretty. It's mostly dark and grimy. Even scenes at the water's edge and in the woods are dotted with refuse, which the kid harvests for useful items and things he can sell. I got the sense that any residual beauty that this child perceives is what keeps him from committing suicide or joining the other lost boys getting high on inhalants. His ambition is to be a poet. I took the visuals to be his poet's-eye view of his hard-scrabble life.He's Pinocchio made flesh with no Geppetto or Jiminy Cricket in sight. As with the kids in "Nobody Knows," his ultimate fate remains un-foretold. Both movies left me in tears. I was surprised to see this aired on MHz Worldview's excellent film series, "For the Family." I wouldn't let children watch this without a trusted adult also watching. In that sense, it is a family movie, not boob-tube babysitting fare.

spooly_montana On a chilly night, across the world in Warsaw, Poland, I had the privilege of attending the closing gala of the Warsaw International Film Festival. It was a red carpet event, with the director and stars there, and a great opportunity to mingle with them.The film was called 'Jestem' (in English it means 'I am'), and it was a Polish film directed by Dorota Kedzierzawska. It starred Piotr Jagielski and Agnieszka Nagórzycka, with Pawel Wilczak.Before watching the movie, we heard a summary of the successful festival from the directors of the festival and a brief statement from the film's director herself, in front.The lights dimmed, and the movie began.The film is the story of a boy searching for his place in life, his identity. After running away from an orphanage and being rejected by his mother, the resolute 11-year-old finds a "home" on a deserted old barge. I think it came out well. I enjoyed the film, and thought the young actor in the main role did a fine job.Worth seeing in my opinion.

Weredegu Familiar theme: a child in need of loving or at least caring parents. The location happens to be North Poland, I so guess. For me that's a big plus, keeps me in front of the screen whatever happens, memories and all that, you know. The 'whatever' should be stressed, for at first one could think this is going to be just another 'problem parents film' designed for festival success, but while there is this doubt almost continuously as the plot is setting off, the film will somehow manage to survive. Partly to do at that point with the very well-done cinematography, I suppose. Images filtered brownish, give a comforting warmth to the viewer. Then suddenly one is rewarded for staying with the film and might find unlikely peace together with the young main character who finds it while trying to escape both the ugly peers in whom he sees rottenness he certainly doesn't want to socialize with and the state institutions that would like to step in as replacement for the parents he needs, no matter if he wants any of their 'care'. The ending might bring back all the doubts, but it's just that kind of film. Still worth watching, no doubt about that.

Chris Knipp Dorota Kedzierzawska: "I Am"/"Jestem" (Poland, 2005). 100 minutes. No US distributor. Shown at the New York Film Festival, Lincoln Center, September 27, 2005.An eleven-year-old (Piotr Jagielski) escapes from an orphanage and returns to his hometown where the other kids call him "Mongrel" and his young alcoholic mother (Edyta Jungowska) kicks him out again. Undaunted, he sets up quarters of his own in an abandoned barge. "Mongrel's" survival stratagems and day-to-day encounters show he's not only resourceful but a fundamentally good person. He and an unhappy girl his age (Agnieszka Nagorzycka) from a posh house nearby discover a sense of affection and love in each other's company. "Mongrel" forages, sells scrap metal, and deals with some of the adults in town. Dreaming of being a poet some day, he avoids the bad kids who chase him and sniff glue and doesn't drink or smoke. Prize-winning cinematographer Arthur Reinhardt used systems of bungee cords to stay close to the young actors and eschewed steadicams and hand-held cameras. Panovision Polska actually donated funds and equipment. The resulting gorgeous soft-colored sepia-toned wide-screen images make this quiet film beautiful to behold, and the director has an extraordinary way with child actors. Composer Michael Nyman (who did the scores for five Peter Greenaway films as well as "The Piano," "Gattaca," and "The End of the Affair") has provided music that's both sweeping and intimate. This is no "Ratcatcher" or "400 Blows": this boy is marginal and independent enough to create his own wholly separate world -- at least for a while. It's unlikely this would attract a wide audience, and the images are almost too pretty and tend to highlight a certain Polyannaish spunkyness that at times infringes on the true secrets of childhood with adult philosophizing. At the press screening however, Kedzierzawska explained that the main character was based on a real child she met who lived in the woods and dreamed of being a poet.The director and cinematographer were on hand for questions after the NYFF press screening, which helped clarify the movie's inspiration and how it was made.