Cold War

Name: Cold War
Genre: Drama, Romance, Music
Released: December 21, 2018
Duration: 89 min
Rating: 90
Cast: Adam Ferency, Adam Szyszkowski, Adam Woronowicz, Agata Kulesza, Borys Szyc

2018

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 45 Critics

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 78 Ratings

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8.1

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8.1	User Score Universal acclaim based on 78 Ratings

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Cold War (Trailer 1)

Movie Details & Credits

Amazon Studios | Release Date: December 21, 2018

Starring: Adam Ferency, Adam Szyszkowski, Adam Woronowicz, Agata Kulesza, Borys Szyc, Cédric Kahn, Drazen Sivak, Giorgio Rayzacher, Jeanne Balibar, Joanna Kulig, Slavko Sobin, Tomasz Kot

Summary: Cold War is a passionate love story between a man and a woman who meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in 1950s Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, it’s the tale of a coupleCold War is a passionate love story between a man and a woman who meet in the ruins of post-war Poland. With vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, they are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in 1950s Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, it’s the tale of a couple separated by politics, character flaws and unfortunate twists of fate — an impossible love story in impossible times. [Amazon Studios]… Expand

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

Genre(s): Drama, Romance, Music

Rating: R

Runtime: 89 min

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Awards & Rankings

13	#13 Best Movie of 2018

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Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

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Critic Reviews

100

Screen International - Fionnuala Halligan

May 17, 2018

Cold War is glorious, sophisticated film-making, shadowed by the spirit of Pawilowski’s Oscar-winning Ida. Lead actress Joanna Kulig is arresting. Read full review

100

Wall Street Journal - Joe Morgenstern

Dec 20, 2018

Like “Roma,” another glory of the current season, the film was shot in black-and-white; the shooter was Lukasz Zal, who was co-cinematographer, with Ryszard Lenczewski, on “Ida.” As in both of those films, the result here is mysteriously ravishing, so much so that you either forget it isn’t in color or take the rich blacks and radiant whites to be colors in their own right. Also, black is the color of the screen between the chapters of a story that takes bold narrative leaps off-screen; the impact of these ellipses is stunning. Read full review

100

Original-Cin - Liam Lacey

Jan 24, 2019

We can see Cold War as a look back on recent history, not through the lens of realism, but as a Hollywood fantasy, a kind of romantic protest against a political nightmare. Read full review

Variety - Guy Lodge

May 17, 2018

Cold War may return to “Ida’s” meticulous monochrome aesthetic of “Ida,” but it’s a companion piece with its own tonal and structural energy: less emotionally immediate, perhaps, but immersively informed by the broken jazz rhythms beloved of its protagonist. Read full review

The Seattle Times - Moira Macdonald

Jan 16, 2019

Cold War seduces its viewer, in its brief running time. You might find, in the quiet of its poignant ending, that it has left its mark on your heart. Read full review

Arizona Republic - Barbara VanDenburgh

Jan 16, 2019

It’s clear from the opening shots that a physically and psychically savaged post-war Poland is impossible ground for love to flower, and it’s a testament to Pawel Pawlikowski’s talent that this fatalism makes us more, not less, invested in the romance. Read full review

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) - Kate Taylor

Sep 8, 2018

Form and content seem oddly divorced, but music – the Polish folk tunes, communist-propaganda anthems and Parisian torch songs – sets the mood and saves the day. Read full review

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User Reviews

CosiMOLOGO

Feb 13, 2019

¿Beso? Un truco encantado para dejar de hablar cuando las palabras se tornan superfluas. Frase pronunciada por la actriz Ingrid Bergman es básicamente la esencia de esta historia, en donde la belleza de cada cuadro dice mucho más que el dialogo.

El director polaco Pawel Pawlikowski que¿Beso? Un truco encantado para dejar de hablar cuando las palabras se tornan superfluas. Frase pronunciada por la actriz Ingrid Bergman es básicamente la esencia de esta historia, en donde la belleza de cada cuadro dice mucho más que el dialogo.

El director polaco Pawel Pawlikowski que había mostrado su maestría con Ida (2013), regresa trayendo un romance imposible que tiene de telón de fondo la guerra fría, Pawlikowski cuenta una apasionado romance imposible entre dos personas de diferentes orígenes y temperamentos. Desde la primera escena de esta cinta el espectador queda hipnotizado por la belleza de la imagen en blanco y negro que resalta y contrasta momento de fuerte sentimentalismo sobrio y elegante, que desespera en momentos, que se acompaña perfectamente con la música seleccionada, que parece haber sido creada especialmente para la película.

La película comienza a fines de los 40, vemos una recreación fiel de las distintas épocas por las que la película pasa, mostrando por medio de la música el paso del tiempo. La historia va avanzando, vemos reconciliaciones y reencuentros, siempre hermosos, pero en el fondo sabemos que no durara, nos volvemos participes de la desesperación de dos personas profundamente enamoradas que por los obligaciones laborales y los problemas que se vivían en la época no logran consolidar su romance. Joanna Kulig, ofrece una interpretación desgarradora y hermosa, haciendo un tributo a las mujeres de las películas clásicas de la época.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

netflic

Jan 14, 2019

Marriage therapists would have a field day with two main characters - a woman who would give her life for her man, but not giving him a normal life even given the opportunity, self-destructing and ruining him in the process; and a man who throws away his life for that woman.

Why, then, twoMarriage therapists would have a field day with two main characters - a woman who would give her life for her man, but not giving him a normal life even given the opportunity, self-destructing and ruining him in the process; and a man who throws away his life for that woman.

Why, then, two perfectly balanced, happily married people, like us, experience strong connection with those two, feeling their every raw emotion?
It has to do with the mastery of the filmmaker, Pawel Pawlikowski, Polish director who made "Ida" (best Foreign Movie in 2013). The movie is dedicated to his parents and loosely based on their love life. They separated and got back together three times, leaving back their new spouses.

Music carries the whole film, from folk Polish songs and dances to soviet-era Stalinist songs to jazz, it helps to create authentic feeling of post-War Europe with the main theme of one forbidden love ("Two Hearts"). It is stylish, artsy, and atmospheric, with beautiful black-and-white cinematography.

The script is deliberately jumpy, leaving lots of room for imagination to fill the gaps. There is something Shakespearean in this story of two lovers who cannot live without each other yet cannot be together as well.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

GinaK

Jan 21, 2019

Beautifully photographed in black and white, Cold War is an interesting film, about an elusive woman and her faithful/obsessed lover, which makes it a film about a personal “cold war” set during a historical Cold War. The acting is exceptionally good and completely believable. AndBeautifully photographed in black and white, Cold War is an interesting film, about an elusive woman and her faithful/obsessed lover, which makes it a film about a personal “cold war” set during a historical Cold War. The acting is exceptionally good and completely believable. And Pawlikowski always seems to find an interesting “angle” from which to shoot a scene, which enriches the film, but also is sometimes a distraction, at least during the first half of the film after which you are so caught up in the story that such details don't matter anymore, but the passion of the lovers does.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

movieducation

Dec 21, 2018

The black and white, the music and its heavenly voice, the dancing are never monotous and primitive, yet, COLD WAR suffers from montage storytelling, sacrificing the process of tremendously sad love story with powerful backdrop. A slight stepback from Ida, but still beautiful.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

ladyalymarie

Dec 26, 2018

I love the aesthetics of the film but not invested with the characters which is an important part of a romance film.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

tropicAces

Dec 23, 2018

If “Phantom Thread” and “A Star is Born” had a love child, and then it starred an actress who looked like Jessica Chastsin and Jennifer Lawrence, had a baby, that would be this movie.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

SergioMa

Jan 9, 2019

Yet another cold war movie! Pretentious directing, bleak script, and black and white as if it is following a formula that comes ready to consume. Acting is hardly convincing and story too long.

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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