My Friend the Polish Girl

My Friend the Polish Girl
Directed byEwa Banaszkiewicz
Mateusz Dymek
Screenplay byEwa Banaszkiewicz
Mateusz Dymek
Produced byEwa Banaszkiewicz
Mateusz Dymek
Sebastian Petryk
StarringAneta Piotrowska
Emma Friedman-Cohen
Daniel Barry
Andy Abbott
Darren Rose
Max Davis
CinematographyMichał Dymek
Edited byMatylda Dymek
Mateusz Dymek
Music byTara Creme
Production
company
Warsaw Pact Films
Distributed byRepublic Film Distribution (UK)
Subliminal Films (USA)
Aurora (Poland)
Release dates
  • January 29, 2018 (2018-01-29) (Rotterdam)
  • July 19, 2019 (2019-07-19) (United Kingdom)
Running time
87 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
Poland
LanguageEnglish

My Friend the Polish Girl is a UK/Polish pseudo-documentary drama feature film written, directed, and co-produced by Ewa Banaszkiewicz and Mateusz Dymek.[1] Starring Aneta Piotrowska, Emma Friedman-Cohen, Daniel Barry, Andy Abbot, Darren Rose, and Max Davis, it premiered in competition at the 2018 International Film Festival Rotterdam.[2]

Plot

Katie, a young American documentarian, sets out to make a film about immigrants in post-Brexit-vote London, but ends up intruding on the life of Alicja, a struggling Polish actress. With confrontational questions, she tries to force intimacy and drives a wedge between Alicja and her boyfriend Michael. Alicja earns a pittance as an assistant in a cinema and is trying to get work as an actress while she becomes engrossed in the film. This documentary soon becomes the report of a questionable game in which the two women challenge each other.

Cast

  • Aneta Piotrowska as Alicja
  • Emma Friedman-Cohen as Katie
  • Daniel Barry as Michael
  • Andy Abbott as Alex
  • Daren Rose as Uncle Mike
  • Max Davis as Max

Release

The film had a cinema release in the UK on July 19, 2019 by Republic Distribution [3] and later on November 29, 2019 in the USA by Subliminal Films.

Reception

My friend the Polish Girl holds a 77% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 13 critic's reviews with an average rating of 5.7/10.[4] Jeannette Catsoulis for The New York Times wrote, “Shot mostly in black and white and with an improvisational feel, ‘My Friend the Polish Girl’ is cool and clever, feigning social realism with winking calculation.”[5] While Guy Lodge of Variety: “From its cramped, off-the-cuff shooting style (mostly in washed-out monochrome) to its persuasive ensemble, ‘My Friend the Polish Girl’ mostly pulls off the documentary pretense with wily skill.” [6] Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian nominated the lead Aneta Piotrowska as one of the top female performances of 2019.[7]

Awards

Nominated for Best British Feature Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2018. My Friend the Polish Girl won the Grand Prix at Mlodzi & Film Debut festival in 2019.[8]

References

  1. ^ My Friend the Polish Girl British Council. Retrieved 2018-02-22
  2. ^ IFFR.com Retrieved 2018-02-22
  3. ^ My Friend the Polish Girl British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 2020-05.15
  4. ^ "My Friend the Polish Girl (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
  5. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (November 28, 2019). “‘My Friend the Polish Girl’ Review: The Outsider” The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
  6. ^ Lodge, Guy (November 29, 2019). “Film Review: ‘My Friend the Polish Girl’” Variety. 2019-11-29
  7. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (December 2, 2019). “And the 2019 Braddies go to... Peter Bradshaw's film picks of the year” Guardian. Retrieved 2020-05-15
  8. ^ “FESTIVALS: My Polish Girl Wins Grand Prix at Mlodzi i Film Debut Festival” Film New Europe. Retrieved 2020-05-15