The Wedding (2021 film)

The Wedding
Original titleWesele
Directed byWojciech Smarzowski
Written byWojciech Smarzowski
StarringRobert Więckiewicz
Agata Kulesza
Andrzej Chyra
Michalina Łabacz
Arkadiusz Jakubik
Mateusz Więcławek
Agata Turkot
Release date
  • 8 October 2021 (2021-10-08) (Poland)
Running time
135 min
CountryPoland
LanguagePolish
Box office$ 2,315,496[1]

The Wedding (Polish: Wesele), also known as The Wedding Day and The Wedding Day 2, is a 2021 Polish drama film written and directed by Wojciech Smarzowski.[2][3][4] The film tells complicated relationship between Polish and Jewish neighbours in Jedwabne. It stars Robert Więckiewicz, Agata Kulesza, Andrzej Chyra, Michalina Łabacz, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Mateusz Więcławek and Agata Turkot.

The Wedding premiered at the 2021 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival winning Official Selection - Competition Award.[5][6] At the 24th Polish Film Awards, film received ten nominations, including for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Więckiewicz) and Best Supporting Actress (Kulesza), and won for Best Cinematography (Piotr Sobociński Jr.).[7]

Cast

Production

The Wedding is a follow-up to Smarzowski's 2004 film by the same name.[8] Filming took place in Poland and Latvia between July and December 2020.[9][10]

Release

The Wedding was released on 8 October 2021. It performed well on its opening weekend, selling 139,536 tickets and per Film New Europe had the "best opening for a local production in 2021."[10]

Reception

In a praising critique of the film published by Kino Mania, Giuseppe Sedia noted that Smarzowski "invited to banquet on the big screen the same old sampler of vulgarians, bribable clerics and small town grandstanders. Subtleties aside, the Pieter Bruegel of Polish cinema offers once more a caricatural but clear-cut depiction of provincial Poland, dissolute, immobile and greedy as usual".[11]

Screen Anarchy reviewed the film, writing "For the recurring didacticism and programmatic disruption of nationalistic self-image, The Wedding Day is an uncomfortable history revision delivered in a masterful and provocative high-wire act of genre, commercial and arthouse filmmaking of intense social relevance."[12]

References

  1. ^ "Wesele (2021)". Box Office Mojo.
  2. ^ "Smarzowski wraca z nowym "Weselem". Tylko nie pomylcie filmu!". rozrywka.blog. 2 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Award-winning Polish director takes on WWII pogrom of Jews in latest film". Notes From Poland. 2021-10-15. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  4. ^ Polska, Vogue (2021-10-15). "Demontaż atrakcji: "Wesele"". Vogue Polska (in Polish). Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  5. ^ "Review: The Wedding Day". Cineuropa. November 25, 2021.
  6. ^ "The Wedding Day". poff.ee.
  7. ^ "Orły | Nominacje 24. ORŁÓW- Nagród Polskiej Akademii Filmowej". pnf.pl.
  8. ^ "Kulesza z Więckiewiczem o "Weselu" i Smarzowskim: Wyleją się pomyje. A Wojtek kocha Polskę". Onet Kultura (in Polish). 2021-10-08. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  9. ^ "Wojciech Smarzowski's comedy The Wedding Day wraps up filming in Latvia". Cineuropa. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  10. ^ a b Grynienko, Katarzyna. "BOX OFFICE: Wedding by Wojciech Smarzowski Tops Polish Box Office - FilmNewEurope.com". Film New Europe. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  11. ^ Sedia, Giuseppe (12 February 2022). "The Wedding (2021)". Kino Mania. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  12. ^ "Tallinn 2021 Review: The WEDDING DAY, Masterful, Provocative High-Wire Act of Genre and Arthouse". ScreenAnarchy. 2021-12-09. Retrieved 16 February 2022.