Hiszpanka (2015)

Steeped in wonder and mystery, HISZPANKA (Influenz) tells the story of a group of clairvoyants committed to restoring the Polish state as World War One dwindles to an end. Gathered inside a... See full synopsis »

Director:

Lukasz Barczyk

Writer:

Lukasz Barczyk

Stars:

Crispin Glover, Artur Krajewski, Bruce Glover

4 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Crispin Glover	...	Dr. Abuse
Artur Krajewski	...	Rudolf Funk
Bruce Glover	...	Kubryk
Karl Markovics	...	Schreck
Jakub Gierszal	...	Krystian Ceglarski
Florence Thomassin	...	Anne Besaint
Jan Frycz	...	Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Patrycia Ziolkowska	...	Wanda Rostowska (as Patrycja Ziólkowska)
Magdalena Poplawska	...	Adrianna Solska-Tekieli
Sandra Korzeniak	...	Ms. Malicka
Tomasz Kowalski	...	Wiktor Pniewski
Thomas Schweiberer	...	Fisher
Jan Peszek	...	Tytus Ceglarski
Piotr Glowacki	...	Paluch
Jack Recknitz	...	Tiedemann

Storyline

Steeped in wonder and mystery, HISZPANKA (Influenz) tells the story of a group of clairvoyants committed to restoring the Polish state as World War One dwindles to an end. Gathered inside a hotel room for a special séance, the magi use their power to save Jan Paderewski, the legendary pianist and symbolic leader of a successful patriotic uprising. At the same time, a hostile medium hired by the Prussian army is trying to influence Paderewski with his negative power. The eerily whirring table becomes the center of an unfolding melodrama, giving birth to a love requiring the highest sacrifice of all.   At once a pitch-black comedy of bourgeois manners, an alternative version of history and an unconventional spy thriller, ukasz Barczyks HISZPANKA (Influenz) creates a parallel world all its own. The movie merges fiction with historical fact, telling the true story of the only successful uprising in Polish history, which took place in Greater Poland in the years 1918-19. Visually ravishing...

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Plot Keywords:

spanish flu | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | History

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User Reviews

Very bad very, bad bad movie

This movie is as bad as the ungrammatical summary title of this review of it: very bad very, bad bad. Or to be completely honest, it is even worst: because it is not "bad", but just plain wrong

The script is poor. The director is not directing. Most of the actors are not acting. The editing and characteristic visual effects are simply annoying. The only surely noticeable thing is the soundscape of music- in that it is extremely boring. And on top of that there is no historic background / setting, so the historically uneducated viewers will think of this as a pure fantasy story, instead of historic events told in a merely fantasy way

All this picture is, is nothing more than just a bunch of boring and sometimes chaotic scenes revolving around the re-birth of polish state near the end of the First World War. In it we have multiple ripoffs from other movies presented in such a manner, that they constitute as a pure kitsch. For example at the beginning we are (not as much presented but) bluntly attacked by a character being a laughable mix of Dr. Strangelove and Darth Vader; but the sad thing is, that this laughable part was most likely not intended to be as such

The only subjectively valuable thing was the statement given by one of the characters, who happened to say that he wants the independent Poland to be a country where white and red means strawberries with smetana (a type of sour cream) and not the spilled blood of polish people of high moral values (the red and the white are the two colors equally distributed on polish flag). And the only objectively valuable aspect of this movie are the sets and costumes, which recreate the time period accurately and on a big scale. But even this positive effect of accuracy had to be destroyed, by things like the usage of word Luftwaffe when talking about German planes (because Luftwaffe is the German air force from the Second World War, the conflict that will take place two decades after events from this movie)

And so you have been warned: do not waste time on this attempt on making a piece of art. Because what came to be of it, really do is a piece: but of s**t

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish English German French

Release Date:

23 January 2015 (Poland)

Also Known As:

Influence

Filming Locations:

Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland

Box Office

Budget:

PLN24,600,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$194,591

Company Credits

Production Co:

Studio Filmowe Kadr, Instytucja Filmowa Film-Art, Platige Image

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Color:

Color Color (35 mm version)