The cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski : variations on destiny and chance /

These two books complement each other nicely and add to the now-substantial critical literature on this great Polish director (1941-96). The best introductory book is still Annette Insdorf's Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski (1999), and the best (insanely) theoretical book is Slavoj Zizek's The Fright of Real Tears: Krzysztof Kieslowski between Theory and Post-Theory (2001). The present titles bring more staid and sensible contributions to the discussion. Both these titles devote the lion's share of their pages to the films that matter most--The Decalogue, The Double Life of Veronique, and the Three Colours trilogy. Also author of Polish National Cinema (CH, Dec'02), Haltof (Northern Michigan Univ., Marquette) immerses Kieslowski in Polish contexts, cinematic and otherwise, evaluating each film through a uniquely thorough familiarity with Polish and eastern European cinema. He works through an enormous amount of Polish film criticism, all of which will be new and interesting to most English-speaking readers. Haltof's readings of the films are clear and convincing, although they do not aim for earth-shattering conclusions. He stakes out well-reasoned points of emphasis from which more complicated readings may begin. Kickasola's readings go into more detail than any other critical book on Kieslowski. A long theoretical section, "Immediacy, Abstraction, and Transcendence," is not obviously necessary and perhaps inspires a bit too much jargon further on. And some of the detailed readings are taken up with summary instead of insight. But by devoting so many pages to each film (80 pages on The Decalogue, compared to Haltof's 33), Kickasola (communication, Baylor Univ.) pays the masterful Kieslowski the very particular and careful attention he deserves. With Insdorf, Zizek, and now Kickasola and Haltof to choose from, those interested in Kieslowski have plenty of food for thought. ^BSumming Up: Both highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. S. C. Dillon Bates College