Some pictures of the Criterion Collection release of Paweł Pawlikowski’s heartbreaking and gorgeously photographed epic romance Cold War (2018) which I picked up recently, together with Silence Of The Lambs and Blow Out.

Cold War is one of the most beautiful and affecting films I watched this year, shot in stunning black and white by the Polish cinematographer Lukasz Zal ( who also recently served as DP on Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking Of Ending Things ). The absence of distracting colors in the visuals highly accentuate the punch of the shadows, shapes and forms as well as the compositions of the shots in the film, and the narrative itself eschews any melodrama to craft a precise edit that really hits home emotionally.

Absolutely entralled by Pawe? Pawlikowski's Cold War (my 2nd viewing), not only for Lukasz Zal's stunning B&W cinematography but also it's incisive & precise narrative style. I'll post some pictures of my @Criterion set next week – https://t.co/eauDVFKuz9 #filmmaking pic.twitter.com/sOPswfEFnk

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) September 15, 2020

Incidentally the film was shot by Polish cinematographer Lucas Zal, who was also the DP for the gorgeous B&W film Cold War, which I love – https://t.co/9nXu5b6rp4 pic.twitter.com/xIfWieDjyQ

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) September 9, 2020

The new 4K re-master of the film is visually stunning, serving up rich contrast accentuating the blacks of the monochrome print beautifully.

There’s also a great collection of supplementary materials; I found the conversation between Pawlikowski and filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu highly illuminating and learned much about the film-making and thought process of the director. Just like I mentioned with the Brian DePalma/Noah Baumbach conversation supplementary found on the Blow Out, I always like it when directors interview other directors as they tend to ask more interesting and esoteric questions that a film critic or film reporter might not.

This is yet another fantastic release from Criterion, and gets my highest recommendations.

“Blow Out – The Criterion Collection Blu-ray″ details :

Director-Approved Special Edition Features :

– New 4K digital master, supervised by director Paweł Pawlikowski and director of photography Łukasz Żal, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
– New conversation between Pawlikowski and filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu
– Press conference from the 2018 Cannes Film Festival featuring Pawlikowski and Żal; actors Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, and Borys Szyc; and producer Ewa Puszczyńska
– Two 2018 programs on the making of the film, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Pawlikowski and others
– Trailer
– New English subtitle translation
– PLUS: An essay by film critic Stephanie Zacharek

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