May contain minor spoiler. Szamanka is reminiscent of The Piano Teacher and Last Tango in Paris, but where Michael Haneke is subdued and restrained, Zulawski is quite the polar opposite. Hanekes ID unleashed, if you will. Frantic camera-work and extreme performances, sometimes bordering on the laughable, but still held together in some strange way. I also remember feeling the same way about Jack Nicholsons performance in The Shining, the first time I watched it, overplayed but still exactly within the boundaries of the movie and the vision. The cinematography is truly impressive, adding to the sense of doom and despair with its deep, rich blacks. I always admire Zulawskis use of the camera, here he excels in the use of Steadicam, and he manages to make the most out of the locations and the superb sets with his eye for staging's, angles and timing. Zulawski seems to be, like in many of his other movies, very interested in extreme ways of behavior, the limits of speech and expression. Here he treads a psychological minefield, creates a unpleasant but still fascinating journey toward the climax of an obsessive and doomed relationship. Not for everyone but if you enjoyed (if that is the right word), lets say: if you were intrigued by the aforementioned The Pianist and Last Tango, you would want to see this one. Zulawski is one of the most interesting European directors alive today, I hope he will be active again in the future.
Review of She-Shaman
