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Cold War

Original title: Zimna wojna
  • 2018
  • R
  • 1h 29m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
64K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,135
2,538
Tomasz Kot and Joanna Kulig in Cold War (2018)
A passionate love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, who are fatefully mismatched and yet condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in the 1950s in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, the film depicts an impossible love story in impossible times.
Play trailer1:50
22 Videos
99+ Photos
DramaMusicRomance

In the 1950s, a music director falls in love with a singer and tries to persuade her to flee communist Poland for France.In the 1950s, a music director falls in love with a singer and tries to persuade her to flee communist Poland for France.In the 1950s, a music director falls in love with a singer and tries to persuade her to flee communist Poland for France.

  • Director
    • Pawel Pawlikowski
  • Writers
    • Pawel Pawlikowski
    • Janusz Glowacki
    • Piotr Borkowski
  • Stars
    • Joanna Kulig
    • Tomasz Kot
    • Borys Szyc
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.5/10
    64K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    4,135
    2,538
    • Director
      • Pawel Pawlikowski
    • Writers
      • Pawel Pawlikowski
      • Janusz Glowacki
      • Piotr Borkowski
    • Stars
      • Joanna Kulig
      • Tomasz Kot
      • Borys Szyc
    • 240User reviews
    • 313Critic reviews
    • 90Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 3 Oscars
      • 52 wins & 126 nominations total

    Videos22

    Trailer 2
    Trailer 1:50
    Trailer 2
    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:59
    Official Trailer
    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:59
    Official Trailer
    Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
    Trailer 0:31
    Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
    Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
    Trailer 0:28
    Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
    Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
    Trailer 0:31
    Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
    Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
    Trailer 0:31
    Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

    Photos128

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    Top cast43

    Edit
    Joanna Kulig
    Joanna Kulig
    • Zula
    Tomasz Kot
    Tomasz Kot
    • Wiktor
    Borys Szyc
    Borys Szyc
    • Kaczmarek
    Agata Kulesza
    Agata Kulesza
    • Irena
    Cédric Kahn
    Cédric Kahn
    • Michel
    Jeanne Balibar
    Jeanne Balibar
    • Juliette
    Adam Woronowicz
    Adam Woronowicz
    • Consul
    Adam Ferency
    Adam Ferency
    • Minister
    Drazen Sivak
    • Sleuth 1
    Slavko Sobin
    Slavko Sobin
    • Sleuth 2
    Aloïse Sauvage
    Aloïse Sauvage
    • Waitress
    Adam Szyszkowski
    Adam Szyszkowski
    • Guard
    Anna Zagórska
    • Ania
    Tomasz Markiewicz
    • Leader of ZMP
    Izabela Andrzejak
    • Mazurek
    Kamila Borowska
    • Mazurek
    Katarzyna Ciemniejewska
    • Mazurek
    Joanna Depczynska
    • Mazurek
    • Director
      • Pawel Pawlikowski
    • Writers
      • Pawel Pawlikowski
      • Janusz Glowacki
      • Piotr Borkowski
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews240

    7.563.8K
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    10

    Featured reviews

    8bastille-852-731547

    Beautifully Made Drama from Poland

    This superbly shot and acted black-and-white drama from Poland is a worthy film from Pawel Pawlikowski. It doesn't quite live up to his outstanding previous film "Ida," but it comes close. Like "Ida," this film runs a fleeting 90 minutes and is shot in black and white using simple (but gorgeous) cinematography. For a film of such short runtime, "Cold War" is deeply ambitious, and for the most part, the ambition pays off. It is set over a considerable period of time both inside and outside of the Iron Curtain, and centers on a love story between a man and his student who meet at a state-run music academy in communist Poland.

    The film's use of a variety of filmmaking techniques to depict the history and culture of postwar Europe through using historical context is outstanding. The simple and very powerful music is beautiful, as is every key shot in black-and-white. The two leads both give excellent performances, mixing desire for purpose in life with an intense feeling of passion that is prevalent among ambitious individuals in the era. Some of these strengths in the movie are even combined together to excellent results, such as a chilling scene when young women from the state music academy sing songs pledging absolute loyalty to Stalin on stage in performance. The juxtaposition of the different scenes in the movie is also done very well, as each scene simply cuts to black before the next major scene (set in a different region or area of Europe) begins. The only real complaint I have about this film is that while I really appreciated the ending for the most part, the tone of the film's finale felt slightly anti-climactic. Otherwise, this is a gem. Gladly recommended. 8/10
    10markgorman

    Completely engrossing and stunningly beautiful. An arthouse masterpiece.

    The first thing to state about this beautiful movie is that it's monochrome. So stunningly so that at times you feel you are in a photographic gallery rather than a cinema. The quality of the cinematography is quite extraordinary thanks to Lucas Zal.

    It's also in 4:3 format. Not the square format of Instagram, but close.

    We don't see 4:3 very often these days but Wes Anderson used it to immense effect in Grand Budapest Hotel and so did Lazslo Melis in Son of Saul.

    It's an engaging format that draws you in. It suggests a time before cinemascope (16:9 etc) and only really works in period cinema of a time.

    This time.

    But it also lends itself to incredible framing, such as when our female protagonist floats down a river gradually disappearing out of shot, and later in the movie when the chief protagonists leave a bus and walk out of frame in a composition that Henri Cartier Breson would be proud of.

    It's one of the most beautiful movies I've seen in many years.

    In truth that's probably its biggest strength.

    It is, but it isn't really, narrative driven. More episodic than story driven but it does tell a tale about director Pawel Pawlikowski's parents' love affair set against the Cold War backdrop in his native Poland.

    It's fairly sordid in a way (his mother was abused by her father as a child) but without anything shocking to see.

    Imagine, yes.

    The two leads ( Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot) are magnificent. Brooding, beautiful (although unconventionally so) and real.

    Lucas Zal has a great time dwelling on three particular things. Crowd shots. Amazing, Dance sequences. Amazing. Joanna Kulig (the lead). Amazing.

    In particular, Joanna Kulig has a stand out performance. She's not one to show her enjoyment in life. Sullen most would say. But it is an immense performance.

    It's a love story, set against the challenges that Cold War Poland put in front of people of artistic belief where communist doctrine made creativity very difficult.

    What Pawel Pawlikowski achieves is a mood piece of exemplary, peerless really, detail.

    And it's a musical.

    I was constantly drawn to comparing it to La La Land, yet it is so NOT La La Land. Partly it's down to Kulig who shares the unorthodox looks (beauty) of Emma Stone. Partly it's the framing of Zal.

    And the music fuses from Polish country folk to French basement jazz (which La La Land would have been so comfortable with).

    This is an Oscar nomination shoe in. It's absolutely brilliant.

    And, at 88 minutes, certainly does not outstay its welcome.

    Bravo!

    A Straight 10 from me.
    9alexander-978-692186

    Let's go to the other side

    It took me almost a year to rewatch Cold War, not for lack of want, but for how hard film was to revisit. The pain, torment and anguish is very tangible, and despite the fact the key characters keep making terrible mistakes that lead them into worse and worse positions, I can't help but feel I would make the same steps. What else do you do when you can't stand each other, but you can't stand to be apart from each other? Is this love? Or is love a concept mislabeled, propelled by films like this that seem to glorify harmful and destructive relationships by malicious and foolish people?

    Shot in sumptuous black and white, with a stunning soundtrack and stellar performances, Cold War is not a romance film, but rather a tragedy. You know the end when you start, but you drag yourself through the mud to reanalyse every single painful detail. A film that never answers any questions, but lets you resonate with the relationship, actions and consequences of these ill pared, out of sync lovers. Oh oh oh.
    7claudio_carvalho

    Magnificent cinematography and Chemistry of the Lead Couple

    "Cold War" is an overrated romance with magnificent cinematography and chemistry of the lead couple. Unfortunately the storyline of two lovers incapable to be together or distant from each other is not attractive despite some good moments. My vote is seven.

    Title (Brazil): "Guerra Fria" ("Cold War")
    andrewestrella

    Not as Good of a Film as the Camera Wants You to Believe

    The first time I saw Cold War, I fell asleep halfway through it at AFI Fest 2018. That was my fourth film of the day, and I was extremely tired. I felt very bad, so I was very eager for when the film would be released to the public so that I could give it another try. Today is that day.

    Well, after seeing it for a second time (and unfortunately being two to three minutes late), I actually think there was more than tiredness that caused me to fall asleep in the first screening. I truly think that Cold War is the epitome of what style over substance is. This film has such a bad plot, uninteresting characters, and a story that flashed through more than a decade in eighty-five minutes. Cold War tries to disguise its faults with spectacular black and white cinematography, a stunning vocal score, and a pretentious choice of a historical time period, but I was not fooled for one bit.

    The plot was so thin that I could not even begin to describe how ridiculously simple, yet annoying it was:

    "Man who is a musical director finds a female singer with incredible talent. He leads her to fame. One day they eye-flirt at a party. They bang pretty intensely. Then, one year goes by without talking to each other. They meet one day on the sidewalk. They both declare they have significant others. But, because of their erratic attraction for each other, they have intercourse again. And then they bang again and again. Then they go on tour. She gets more famous. Then, five years go by. After not speaking to each other, they meet each other yet again. They both declare they are married to other people. But because of their lustful nature, they BANG yet again. And again. Then they decide to drop their husband/wife and become a couple. They start to fight. Then they bang to make up. Then she gets mad at him. Then she slaps him. Then seven years go by. They bang. Then, they get married. The end."

    In other words, the plot of this film revolves around two people whose love affair can be simplified as "hey baby, let's get it on." There is hardly any dialogue between them that is romantically sincere. It is all just sexual or boring exposition. I felt nothing for these two people. And I really didn't care.

    For all you love it to death, good for you. But I prefer films with better developed characters at the expense of extremely pretentious cinematography. How about the Before Trilogy that isn't beautifully shot by any means, but the characters are excellently portrayed.

    All in all, I wish this film was better than the camera thinks it is.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The turbulent relationship between the main characters was inspired by the director Pawel Pawlikowski's real-life parents, who did break up and get together a couple of times, who moved from one country to another, and according to Pawlekowski, died together.
    • Goofs
      When Wiktor crosses the border to West-Berlin in 1952, we can see on the horizon a high-rise with a rotating Mercedes-Benz star on the top. This is supposed to be the famous Europa-Center, but that was built in 1963 and only completed in 1965. It's probably poetic license to visually distinguish the capitalist West from the communist East.
    • Quotes

      Zula: He mistook me for my mother and a knife showed him the difference.

    • Connections
      Featured in Premios Goya 33 edición (2019)
    • Soundtracks
      Pukolem wololem
      Performed by Tomasz Kicinski & Michal Mocek

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    FAQ18

    • How long is Cold War?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 8, 2018 (Poland)
    • Countries of origin
      • Poland
      • United Kingdom
      • France
      • Belgium
      • India
    • Official sites
      • Hakka Distribution Page
      • Kino Swiat (Poland)
    • Languages
      • Polish
      • French
      • Croatian
      • German
      • Russian
      • Serbian
      • Italian
    • Also known as
      • Chiến Tranh Lạnh
    • Filming locations
      • Croatia
    • Production companies
      • Opus Film
      • Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej
      • MK2 Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • €4,300,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $4,580,048
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $54,353
      • Dec 23, 2018
    • Gross worldwide
      • $20,484,802
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 29 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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