'Corpus Christi' from Film Movement
Poland’s 2020 Academy Awards nominee is out this week along with a Greek slasher movie and a documentary on a beloved children’s author.
• Corpus Christi (Film Movement)
Daniel finds his calling while serving time in prison. He wants to become a Roman Catholic priest; he loves the ritual, grasps the inner meaning and yet, no seminary will accept him given his record. He’s released on parole to a remote village where one event leads to another. He tells a girl he encounters that he’s a priest, never imagining that this would lead to his installation as the temporary replacement for the parish’s ailing pastor.
Nominated for an Oscar, the 2019 Polish film by director Jan Komasa is a tragedy worthy of Dostoyevsky and a parable worthy of Kierkegaard. Daniel is probably the character who best fathoms the essence of the faith the villagers claim as their own—he’s really good at being a priest but can’t be one. The intense performance in the lead role by Bartosz Bielenia is shadowed by anxiety: when will he be found out?
• The Wind (Red Arrow Video)
Sian (Meg Foster) is a bestselling American murder mystery author who decides to finish her upcoming novel in a rented house on a Greek island. The setting is postcard-tourist bureau beautiful with rocky cliffs and dwellings hugging the sea. But lurking in paradise is a maniacal American expat, the house’s caretaker. Greek director Nico Mastorakis’ The Wind (1986) is a slasher film with a unique setting, a windblown island whose elements play a role in the outcome.
• Rudyard Kipling: A Secret Life (MVD Visual)
Nowadays, Rudyard Kipling is remembered as an imperialist warmonger. A Secret Life argues this was true only in part. The British writer loved his Indian birthplace and regretted war when faced with its results. Still beloved as a children’s author, he suffered an abusive childhood at the hands of a guardian and sorrow from the early death of his daughter. The documentary, including interviews with biographers and literary scholars, paints a picture of resilient grief.
