Image of movie Eo
Image of movie Eo
Image of movie Eo
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Eo

Jerzy Skolimowski
Italien, Polen 2022
88 min
V'22

EO hat nicht nur einen Hauptdarsteller, sondern gleich sechs. – Sechs Esel, die auf der Leinwand einen verkörpern: den Esel Eo, dessen Odyssee der polnische Regisseur in seinem so eigenwilligen wie visuell kraftvollen – da aus der Perspektive des Tieres gefilmten – Spätwerk nachzeichnet. Inspiriert von Robert Bressons AU HASARD BALTHAZAR (1966) zeigt Skolimowski eine Abfolge von Leidensbegegnungen, Glücksmomenten und surrealen Situationen zwischen Zirkus und Schlachthof; immer aus der Sicht des Tieres, der nicht selten eine gewisse Melancholie zu eigen ist. Bonusfeature: Cameo-Auftritt von Isabelle Huppert. (Sascha Rettig)

A donkey’s bray is incredibly loud. Meant for communication over rugged landscapes, it can be heard from a distance of several kilometers away. Nevertheless, nobody seems to hear EO’s cry. He is the enduring protagonist of Jerzy Skolimowski’s vivacious homage to working animals and nature. EO is a descendant of Bresson’s Balthazar, it’s through his eyes, repeatedly filmed in close-up, that we experience our own stupidities and limitations. When EO gets separated from the circus he used to work at, he longs for nothing more than to get back, suffering multiple injustices along the way in a world mostly ignorant of a donkey’s feelings. Skolimowski, who proves once more that it is the oldest directors who take the greatest formal risks, films EO’s journey through human civilization like Dante’s descent into hell: monochrome red, distorted lenses, images running backwards. The camera moves as freely as EO never is allowed to. There is a heightened sense of reality and of all living things. It’s only destroyed by humans entering the frame. EO embodies the hopeless dignity of observing without really being part of things. In this sense, the donkey’s gaze is easy to link to the cinema situation. The power of the film reveals itself as identification endures after the credits have rolled. (Patrick Holzapfel)

Jerzy Skolimowski: EROTIQUE (1960), WALKOWER (1965), LE DÉPART (1967), DEEP END (1970), THE ADVENTURES OF GERARD (1970), KING, QUEEN, KNAVE (1972), THE SHOUT (1978), MOONLIGHTING (1982), SUCCESS IS THE BEST REVENGE (1984), THE LIGHTSHIP (1985), TORRENTS OF SPRING (1989), FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA (2008), ESSENTIAL KILLING (2010), 11 MINUTES (2015)

Credits
  • Sandra Drzymalska
  • Lorenzo Zurzolo
  • Mateusz Kościukiewicz
  • Isabelle Huppert
  • Ewa Piaskowska
  • Jerzy Skolimowski
  • Michał Dymek
  • Radosław Ochnio
  • Agnieszka Glińska
  • Paweł Mykietyn
  • Mirosław Koncewicz
Skopiea Film, Alien Films

HanWay Films

Stadtkino Filmverleih
DCP
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