SUD OUEST DIMANCHE 19.10.2008


Tricks. Andrzej Jakimowski filmed a little boy in a search for his father and his big sister looking for a job. A work brimming with air, poetry and light. But also full of strength.

SOPHIE AVON
A summer tale. In fact, not so any more, when you watch the film — second by Andrzej Jakimowski — and when the background is erased: a child with big, liquid eyes looking intensely at his father on the train station platform.
Obviously, tales are not only about that: stories about kids scared of being abandoned by their parents or devoured and this tender film, full of light, is entirely focused on the research of the little kid, who wishes to find his father. However, Tricks, in spite of its airy beauty and poetic details, white pigeons taking off and trains, which come and disappear into the night, has something solid, coarse, which anchors it in the reality and, in particular, in the truth on the country. Therefore, Poland and the small town in which Stefek lives with his older sister and mother, immediately describe the story of a way of living.
Here, they are not rich, but they have faith. They believe in destiny and they want it radiant. Stefek and his sister endlessly observe things, people and the way the luck strikes. There is a hamburger wrapped in a wrong paper, on which they bet that it will end up in the trash bin, there is a tramp and a mother. There is an apple salesman who does not manage to attract a single client. There is a train that arrives at the station and a businessman who gets on it. There are finally tamed pigeons, which Stefek cannot make fly, when he opens their huge cage. Obstreperous boy will not stop looking for a way to make them fly. Stefek is not just a stubborn kid with a clear glance. He is one of those children characters, whose determination is tearing, because they believe in miracles with all their hearts.
When Stefek sees a businessman on the platform, he instantly knows that it must be his father, who left them years ago. His big sister tells him in vain that it’s not him, that he is wrong, but he knows he needs this man in his life, that to change the destiny, it is enough to keep his fingers crossed, scatter some coins on the rails and want it happen strongly.

It is a story of a little blond boy, who decides that the fortune smiles to those, who know how to provoke it.

A simple walk in suspense. Tricks is a story of a little blond boy, who decides that the fortune smiles to those, who know how to provoke it. It is also a history of his relationship with his older sister, who teaches him to have patience, contemplate the world and never let his haul go. And even though she is the first one to try to draw Stefek away from the supposed father, her way of loving, carrying and understanding is telling a lot about her own desires. Moreover, they both have the same kind of hope: him — that his father will return and her — that she will get a job, which will let her gain independence.
    Tiny bounces add suspense to a simple walk, clear scenery keeps a perfect balance between the beauty of faces and heterogeneity of the town viewed from the distance, as if familiar and inaccessible at the same time. Andrzej Jakimowski made a fine, moving film, with an accuracy of glance, which enables him to show the point of view of a child without never falling into the trap of insipidness or the sentimentality.

Tricks
by Andrzej Jakimowski. With Damian Ul, Ewelina Walendziak, Rafal Guzniczak 1h 35. In cinemas from Wednesday.

Stefek’s (Damian Ul) older sister teaches him to have patience but also to never let his haul go.