Innocent Sorcerers

Innocent Sorcerers

(Andrzej Wajda, 1960)

Rating: 4/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

Summary: A riveting relationships drama drawn across a resonant backdrop, Andrzej Wajda's 'Innocent Sorcerers' makes gold out of its modest budget.

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Director Andrzej Wajda plays with us from the start. The opening credits roll on a still image that you'd think is from the film or will crop up later but once the credits are done, the still's frame is interrupted by a beautiful woman's head which pops up followed by her body as Wajda pulls back to reveal that it's actually a billboard.

Our image of reality is challenged from the get-go, and it keeps up when he overlaps two 'Taxi Driver' jazz scores until one of the characters turns one of them off on his personal recorder and the other continues behind the scene.

It's ideas like this, combined with Wajda's incredible eye for composition that make this cheap film play like it's got epic backing. It's kinetic. Couple this with a (lack of traditional) plot that tracks a young doctor/jazz drummer who falls a girl over a night ala 'Before Sunrise' but set in a post-war Communist Polish citys and you've got some real depth but with the kind of detachment and sense of overarching society that befits the Italian neorealist movement. Talky yes, but also greatly insightful into the what the youth of the time were thinking and doing.   

It's hard to believe that this is the same Andrzej Wajda whose 'Ashes and Diamonds' two years prior seems to play so differently (despite them both starring the incredible, forever compelling Zbigniew Cybulski).

There's plenty to recommend with this vibrant film that whizzes along through its less than an hour and half run time. The overlapping music, effects and dialogue is well ahead of its time while its photography and editing stand up to today's tighter constraints. Look out for an early acting role from Roman Polanski playing double bass!

Second Run DVD have done a great job restoring this one. It looks and sounds very fresh (there's a surprising amount of bass in the music), making for an excellent home entertainment experience of a seldom seen minor classic.

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