The Participants 2007:
Waiting for a New Legend
By Malwina Grochowska (Poland)

A film critic is somebody who wanted to be a film director, but he failed, so now he's pouring out his frustration by judging the others — it's just a cliché, but like in every cliché, there's a hint of truth in it. Yes, I admit: my teenage dream was to become a movie maker. But the only part of this job I really felt passionate about was watching movies, so I was spending my free time in the national cinematheque and never got to the point of making a movie myself. Then, somehow, it turned natural not only to watch Bergmans and Fellinis with pure fascination (those glorious times!), but also analyze them. During my journalism and culture science studies I started publishing movie reviews and interviews with film artists in a magazine and from then on I've been working as a film journalist.

I find the expression "film journalist" more appropriate in this context than "film critic": a critic is somebody possessing great background and also using certain methodology. I don't. I'm rather willing to get into the flow during the screenings and listen to my cinema lover's intuition while writing. Of course it doesn't mean I get satisfied with describing the surface of the picture, but I'd rather search for hidden meanings following my feelings, not my knowledge.

In Poland, just like around the whole world, movie reviewing and describing is much more massive than serious film writing. There's no reason to dramatize, though. An average cinema client wants to read a short plot of the movie, not some wise man's analysis. Is there enough public space for serious discussion about film in my country? I don't feel able to answer this question. Maybe just as much as the market needs. What I find really problematic in national criticism is the domination of a masculine perspective, but it's a subject for a longer story.

Anyway, "Kino", which I write for, is the oldest and most prestigious Polish film magazine. It's also very low budget. The good thing is that I don't feel any pressure, how should I write the opinion should I express. Just sometimes a question appears: So who reads your work actually?

New Polish cinema, which I often write about, is also not exactly hitting the charts. I think, lot of critics (me as well) would really like to get excited about fresh talents in our cinematographic industry. But they just can't. I envy my older colleagues, who were in my age where Polish Film School was blooming. They were on press releases of every new Wajda's picture, Polanski's, later Kieslowski's... Well, my generation on the other hand, is not witnessing a birth of a new film legend. So far.

Malwina Grochowska

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