camera buff

Saw Krzysztof Kieslowski’s film ‘Camera Buff’ the other day (‘Amator’ in the original). Jerzy Stuhr is terrific as the blossoming filmmaker who eventually sees the more complex sides of his passion. Having known Kieslowski primarily through his later films (the ‘Three Colors’ trilogy and ‘The Double Life of Veronique’) it’s a joy to catch up on some of his earlier work, a lot of it finally available on DVD.

I’ve read some of the critiques of Kieslowski and while I can see where some of the issues might be, I find him incredibly moving. There are passages in ‘Blue’ & ‘Red’ (from ‘Three Colors’) that are haunting (as I’m sure, now, that some of these other films’ scenes will be). The images are very strong, and they accompany the memory, but I think it’s the emotion that he is able to attach to those images that really makes them hang on. Hearing of the way he worked it’s clear that it was not just serendipity. He knew what he wanted, found the actors who could do it, and worked with them until the right things appeared.