La última familia

The Last Family is a devastating story set in a housing project that deserves admiration for the nostalgia of its simple look back at the nearly 30-year history of one family and one country, for its consistent fulfilment of the chosen concept and for the most appropriate use of the word “Congratulations”. In his directorial debut, Jan P. Matuszynski partially revives the legacy of the cinema of moral anxiety by examining the life of an intellectual in a time of repression while limiting direct references to the period in which much of the film takes place. Though it is indicated by the removal of the socio-political context, I don’t think the young director merely wanted only to show how he is able to masterfully handle an in-camera montage and how he can induce a depressing mood. The film is closed off from the outside world in much the same way that its protagonists are confined to small prefabricated apartments for the entire first hour. Their lives are limited to the private sphere, as if there is no public one. The claustrophobic feeling of limited space (and limited freedom) is aided by shooting the characters from a great distance (we thus see what a cramped environment they find themselves in) and in extraordinarily long shots (instead of analytical editing, which would “break up” the space and at least make it feel a little bigger). It is only in the second half, after a dialogue scene between the son and his parents that lasts several minutes and was shot with a static analogue video camera, that we finally go outside (though in several cases, this ironically involves a funeral) and we can breathe with the characters. In these instances, the actors are shot from closer up and for a moment the film is not so suffocatingly confined. The following minutes, however, mercilessly show us that Beksinski and his son are dragging the past along with them (similarly to the way Zdzisław carries his own shit with him in one scene due to a defective toilet) and it occurs to them that their inability to be happy may not be due to the given period, but to themselves. They are still desperately searching for satisfying means of self-expression (painting pictures and making home movies, which are unobtrusively integrated into the rest of the film) and they still do not have firm control over their own lives (the phenomenal scene with a plane crashing during a live broadcast). The prefabricated apartment becomes a symbol of a certain way of living and thinking, which is probably not peculiar only to the Beksinskis, but also to a significant part of the population of post-socialist countries. The Last Family, like the dramas of the Romanian New Wave, says much more about life under socialism (and after it) without direct allusions than all of the museum-piece tragicomedies from Czech directors. Unlike them, Matuszynski doesn’t compromise, doesn’t dupe us into believing anything and doesn’t make excuses for anyone. 90% (11.11.2016)

I biopic about famous Polish painter Zdzisław Beksińsky (I realised I knew some of his paintings without knowing the author’s name) that doesn’t look at all like a biopic. By that I mean that not even once it looks as if the filmmakers had limited themselves to reality – to what actually happened. It’s a clearly and confidently executed author’s vision that says a lot about a lot, and to do that it only needs to focus on one not entirely happy (yeah, it’s an euphemism) Polish family throughout three decades. The strongest début of the year, and there’s no question about it. Congratulations Poland! Why can’t this happen here? (11.02.2017)

It’s been a long time I’ve felt such a lingering silence throughout the entire cinema after the final scene. I didn’t say a word, I just stared blankly at the screen, thinking about the tragic family story that I had just watched. And even though I knew where it was going halfway through the movie already, it never occurred to me that it would end the way it did. The whole movie stunned me even more once I looked up Zdzisław Beksiński on the internet. And I also recommend you to google him afterwards, for an even better movie experience. It is perfect filmmaking that slowly gets under the viewer’s skin with heavy characters, none of whom are lovable, but each of whom have their upsides and their downsides which you end up pondering all the time. But I think that I can’t recall a similar movie. When you’re surprised by a movie that you knew nothing about and it tells a story about someone that you knew nothing about, be sure that it’ll be as stunned as I was. The Swiss artist Giger once said that Zdzislaw’s paintings were something he had never seen in his life.I believe that it’s the same with this movie. I have never had a similar movie experience. Hats off to the 3Kino movie festival for bringing such a strong story to life. I’m speechless… (06.11.2016)

A comedy show of (ab) normal Polish family or in other words a movie that evokes and leaves a feeling for which there is no exact name, something between indescribable sadness, disarming truth, sincere joy, unspoken between the lines, existential loneliness, claustrophobic block of apartment genius loci, voyeur depressive tragicomedy, and elusive beauty of all this. Strong words, a strong movie and a redefinition of the biographical genre as such. Beksinski's disturbing surrealist images do not address this, and yet it says it all. It gets stuck under the skin in a way that will calm down only by indifferent observation of the night sky, when lit one cigarette after another. No matter you have never smoked before. It is beyond my comprehension where the above come from in such a young (and debuting!) creator. Just... Congratulations. (11.02.2017)

I like Polish cinema, but I didn't like The Last Family at all. Tragic stories usually move me, but the film's treatment of the fate of the Beksiński family is coldly emotionless most of the time. My feelings are so contradictory that I cannot rate it better than three stars. However, the final title song blew me away, and I would easily give it five stars. (60%) (05.11.2021)

One big carousel of all kinds of emotions, with the darker ones definitely predominating. And yet, paradoxically, I haven't laughed at a film like this in a long time, the black humour is flawless. For a better experience, I recommend not looking up anything about the Beksinski family, this is one of those films that you think how amazing and terrible it is at the same time, and you won't be able to get it out of your head for a few days. The soundtrack is brilliant, likewise with the casting, the actors perfectly resemble the real people. And then the whole handling of the passing years – I haven't seen such elaborate details in a long time. (12.05.2017)