Part of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s mission is to foster greater understanding through world cinema. This year 72 Foreign Language films were submitted for Golden Globes consideration. Here is an overview of one of them.

Hailing from Lodz Poland, Jerzy Skolimowski began his film career as a youngster by writing a script for Polish film legend Andrzej Wajda for a movie he also acted in. After attending film school, he collaborated with another illustrious countryman, Roman Polanski, writing dialogue for Knife in the Water (1962). In a career spanning twenty pictures he has won top prizes at Venice, Cannes and Berlin. For twenty years he lived and worked in Los Angeles. Now, back in Poland he continues to produce interesting and cutting edge movies. HFPA writer and Polish journalist Yola Czaderska-Hayek has this to say about his latest film submitted for Golden Globe consideration.

What a surprise! I have seen a film I would have sworn was made by a young filmmaker, but 11 Minutes is directed by Jerzy Skolimowski who is well over 70 years old. This Polish auteur (he is a screenwriter, director, producer, actor) is making films all over the world. I remember his Cannes award-winning film Moonlighting (1982) starring Jeremy Irons and The Lightship (1985) starring Robert Duvall – another prize for him at the Venice Film Festival. Now he is back in Poland and presents a Polish-Irish co-production – a film which will keep you on the edge of your seat for all of its 82 minutes.

There is some bold resolve hidden behind 11 Minutes. The underlying theme of this film is the fragile nature of life. A subject not new by any means, but the surprising quality of 11 Minutes lies not in its subject matter, but in its stylistic choices. It is a multi-thread story, which some reviewers have compared to Robert Altman’s Short Cuts, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia or films by Alejandro Iñárritu. But while many of those films’ main focus is on juggling the narrative drama, Skolimowski’s interest lies in the deconstruction of narrative storytelling. 11 Minutes thrives on mood, ambiance and metaphor.

Yola Czaderska-Hayek