Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are emerging in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. That’s why we’re doing the hard work for you.
This week, we make our first trip to Poland, to check out a World War II spy drama. The Bay of Spies draws parallels to the likes of German Oscar Winner The Lives of Others and John le Carré TV adaptations such as The Night Manager. Politically, Poland is a charged place right now. The fact a film noir-influenced story based on real events during the war and with real moral ambiguity is the country’s most talked-about show right now is perhaps no coincidence.
This week, we make our first trip to Poland, to check out a World War II spy drama. The Bay of Spies draws parallels to the likes of German Oscar Winner The Lives of Others and John le Carré TV adaptations such as The Night Manager. Politically, Poland is a charged place right now. The fact a film noir-influenced story based on real events during the war and with real moral ambiguity is the country’s most talked-about show right now is perhaps no coincidence.
- 2/6/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
★★★★☆Described by its writer and director Tomasz Wasilewski as "the first Polish Lgbt film", Floating Skyscrapers (2013) boldly goes where n Pole has gone before in its intricate study of repressed homosexuality. Mateusz Banasiuk stars as aspiring champion swimmer Kuba, an ambitious athlete with the world at his feet. However, when feelings for the boys at his pool float to the surface, problems at home begin arise, made all the more complicated by the fact that he and his girlfriend are cohabiting with his resentful mother. Attending a gallery opening with his girlfriend Sylwia (Marta Nieradkiewicz), Kuba shares a cigarette with the handsome Michal (Bartosz Gelner).
- 3/24/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
This Ain't California | Nebraska | Frozen | Kill Your Darlings | Oldboy | Powder Room | Homefront | Getaway | The Patience Stone | Big Bad Wolves | Black Nativity | Floating Skyscrapers | Klown | Rough Cut | A Long Way From Home | Scatter My Ashes At Bergdorf's
This Ain't California (Tbc)
(Marten Perseil, 2012, Ger) 90 mins
Just as its East German teen subjects took skateboarding behind the Iron Curtain, so this "documentary" smuggles faked footage into its true 1980s history. The result is a fascinating parallel pop-cultural history with a moving (but imaginary) human centre. Working out what's true and what's not only adds to the fun.
Nebraska (15)
(Alexander Payne, 2013, Us) Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb. 115 mins
Stubborn old Dern and son take a quixotic road trip back into family, and American, history.
Frozen (PG)
(Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, 2013, Us) Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Idina Menzel. 108 mins
Disney's classy, sparkly assault on the Christmas holidays, with wintry vistas, musical numbers and a sister-powered fairytale.
This Ain't California (Tbc)
(Marten Perseil, 2012, Ger) 90 mins
Just as its East German teen subjects took skateboarding behind the Iron Curtain, so this "documentary" smuggles faked footage into its true 1980s history. The result is a fascinating parallel pop-cultural history with a moving (but imaginary) human centre. Working out what's true and what's not only adds to the fun.
Nebraska (15)
(Alexander Payne, 2013, Us) Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb. 115 mins
Stubborn old Dern and son take a quixotic road trip back into family, and American, history.
Frozen (PG)
(Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, 2013, Us) Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Idina Menzel. 108 mins
Disney's classy, sparkly assault on the Christmas holidays, with wintry vistas, musical numbers and a sister-powered fairytale.
- 12/7/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Understated performances and sexual realism are a solid start for Poland's "first Lgbt film"
With its lingering shots of the male body, pensive smoking scenes and overbearing, daytime-tv-watching mother, Tomasz Wasilweski's timely drama about a young swimmer coming to terms with his sexuality may not avoid all the top-10 gay movie cliches, as outlined by Jack Cullen in this newspaper,, but it builds a compelling narrative on the back of its understated performances, sexual realism and austerely beautiful cinematography. Put it this way, Mateusz Banasiuk is Kuba, a promising athlete locked into a daily routine of training and trying to keep the peace at home between his doting girlfriend and possessive, inappropriate mum. The appearance of the cabinet-jawed Michal (Bartosz Gelner) forces him to reassess where his loyalties lie. Wasilewski leads us into a perfect storm of domestic anguish, towards a climax as bleak as the deserted industrial spaces that form the backdrop.
With its lingering shots of the male body, pensive smoking scenes and overbearing, daytime-tv-watching mother, Tomasz Wasilweski's timely drama about a young swimmer coming to terms with his sexuality may not avoid all the top-10 gay movie cliches, as outlined by Jack Cullen in this newspaper,, but it builds a compelling narrative on the back of its understated performances, sexual realism and austerely beautiful cinematography. Put it this way, Mateusz Banasiuk is Kuba, a promising athlete locked into a daily routine of training and trying to keep the peace at home between his doting girlfriend and possessive, inappropriate mum. The appearance of the cabinet-jawed Michal (Bartosz Gelner) forces him to reassess where his loyalties lie. Wasilewski leads us into a perfect storm of domestic anguish, towards a climax as bleak as the deserted industrial spaces that form the backdrop.
- 12/6/2013
- by Peter Beech
- The Guardian - Film News
If these two quality celluloid offerings from the upcoming Tribeca Festival are harbingers of what's to be offered, get your tickets now for as many films as you can. Here are engaging, vital, and timely features that beg your attendance.
For example, Tomasz Wasilewski's beautifully crafted Floating Skyscrapers is a heartfelt chronicle of a love affair between two young men in still highly homophobic Poland. Amidst the grey, barren urban landscapes of Warsaw, the closeted bisexual swimmer Kuba (Mateusz Banasiuk) is in a quandary. In between his daily massaging of his mother's back while the two are nude in the bathtub -- and in the midst of the frequent sex bouts with his long-time girlfriend Sylwia (Marta Nieradkiewicz), who resides with him and his jealous ma -- he receives anonymous guilty blowjobs from young male admirers he refuses to kiss or reciprocate on in kind.
But then one night...
For example, Tomasz Wasilewski's beautifully crafted Floating Skyscrapers is a heartfelt chronicle of a love affair between two young men in still highly homophobic Poland. Amidst the grey, barren urban landscapes of Warsaw, the closeted bisexual swimmer Kuba (Mateusz Banasiuk) is in a quandary. In between his daily massaging of his mother's back while the two are nude in the bathtub -- and in the midst of the frequent sex bouts with his long-time girlfriend Sylwia (Marta Nieradkiewicz), who resides with him and his jealous ma -- he receives anonymous guilty blowjobs from young male admirers he refuses to kiss or reciprocate on in kind.
But then one night...
- 4/15/2013
- by Brandon Judell
- www.culturecatch.com
Wolfe Releasing will distributed Jan Komasa's Suicide Room (Sala samobójców) techno thriller in the U.S. The film screened at Berlin's Panorama section. Variety reports that Suicide Room has grossed $4.6 million at the Polish box office. The story follows a high-achieving teen who retreats into a sinister online world after faced with humiliation at his school. Jan Komasa directed and wrote the film which was produced by Jerzy Kapuscinski and Wojciech Kabarowski for Film Studio Kadr. Jakub Gierzal, Roma Gasiorowska, Agata Kulesza, Krzysztof Pieczynski and Bartosz Gelner star in Suicide Room.
- 6/6/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Wolfe Releasing will distributed Jan Komasa's Suicide Room (Sala samobójców) techno thriller in the U.S. The film screened at Berlin's Panorama section. Variety reports that Suicide Room has grossed $4.6 million at the Polish box office. The story follows a high-achieving teen who retreats into a sinister online world after faced with humiliation at his school. Jan Komasa directed and wrote the film which was produced by Jerzy Kapuscinski and Wojciech Kabarowski for Film Studio Kadr. Jakub Gierzal, Roma Gasiorowska, Agata Kulesza, Krzysztof Pieczynski and Bartosz Gelner star in Suicide Room.
- 6/6/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Wolfe Releasing will distributed Jan Komasa's Suicide Room (Sala samobójców) techno thriller in the U.S. The film screened at Berlin's Panorama section. Variety reports that Suicide Room has grossed $4.6 million at the Polish box office. The story follows a high-achieving teen who retreats into a sinister online world after faced with humiliation at his school. Jan Komasa directed and wrote the film which was produced by Jerzy Kapuscinski and Wojciech Kabarowski for Film Studio Kadr. Jakub Gierzal, Roma Gasiorowska, Agata Kulesza, Krzysztof Pieczynski and Bartosz Gelner star in Suicide Room.
- 6/6/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
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