GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL 2020 - The Painted Bird

GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL 2020

Václav Marhoul's The Painted Bird, based on the controversial novel of the same name by Jerzy Kosinski, is undeniably an excruciating and laborious watch throughout its one-hundred and sixty-nine minute run time. 

The artistry and gravitas are there in clumps and the horror of the events - sequence to sequence - is utterly harrowing to behold. For good and for bad, Marhoul's film does not, for one minute, allow a second to breathe. The audience does not receive a minute to ingest the events that are taking place. Instead, Marhoul intensifies and repeatedly showcases the horror of this period. It honours the very truth of such events that occurred but, without a glimmer of hope, the audience is thrust onto a rollercoaster of horror that they cannot get offfor under three hours. It is one they will never be able to unsee.

As aforementioned, there is a terrific amount of skill present. Marhoul directs with every fibre of his being. Everything imaginable is thrown in, not only for good measure, but to honour this often unbelievable and unimaginable story. The cinematography is terrific throughout from Vladimír Smutný who captures the vast landscape of beauty interconnected with these moments of sadism in a juxtaposed brilliance. While the decision to shoot in monochrome is the perfect visual blackmail , in the first ten minutes, it is clear that this feature could not be made any differently. 

Nevertheless, it is that very sadism and running time that is brutally degrading to watch for the entirety of the film. Even when it is shot beautifully and the edit from Ludek Hudec is weighted to perfection, there will be only a small minority who will make it through a sitting. Those who do, however, will be in awe of the leading performance from Petr Kotlár who is dazzling. The range Kotlár showcases at such a tender age – in the harsh and harrowing landscape his character roams – is breathtaking. One can only imagine the toll it would take for a seasoned actor, let alone a child.