TheLittleSongbird As said in my review of 'A Short Film About Killing', the more work I see of Krzysztof Kieslowski, the stronger the feeling that he was an incredibly gifted director, responsible for some brilliant work, taken from us too soon.Have yet to see anything bad from him, with even my least favourite (the eighth episode of 'Dekalog') still being very good, with the masterful 'Dekalog' and 'Three Colors: Red' (all three "Three Colors" films are must watches, but especially 'Red') being particularly great. Like 'A Short Film About Killing' was an expansion of Episode 5 of 'Dekalog', 'A Short Film About Love' is an expanded feature length version of Episode 6 (to me like Episode 5 one of the best 'Dekalog' episodes).Granted, 'A Short Film About Love' is not for everybody and it is easy to understand why. It seems to have been mistaken for a depressing take on romantic love, to me while there is love and passion (being two of the main themes of Episode 6 of 'Dekalog') it is a more complex and darker interpretation of "love" but is actually much more than that. Often it is more a film about obsession, forgiveness, lust and heartache. People may easily dismiss 'A Short Film About Love' as pessimistic and dispassionate, perverted has even been used, while others find it beautiful, haunting and moving. Belong in the latter category myself.Kieslowski's films are all visually striking and exceptionally well made. The same can be said for 'A Short Film About Love'. As well as being beautifully shot with atmospheric use of colour to match the mood, it is gritty yet beautiful with many thoughtful and emotionally powerful images lingering long into the memory. Kieslowski's direction is quietly unobtrusive, intelligently paced and never too heavy, and the music is suitably intricate.The themes and ideals are used to full potential, and the characters and their relationships and conflicts feel so real and emotionally resonant without being heavy-handed. Despite being based around one of the ten commandments, don't let that put you off, resemblance to religion is relatively scant, unless anybody argues God's seeming love for sinners. Being a non-religious person that's not for me to say, just mentioning an interesting and quite unusual observation read recently about the film.Story-wise, it's deliberate in pace but rich and provocative. It's never dull, and more often than not it's creepy (like Magda being followed out of the post-office), poignant (Tomek on the roof, Magda in tears after knocking over milk and the heart-wrenching fantasy about what life might have been with him). There is even some nice black humour that is so subtle it's easy to miss.'A Short Film About Love's' themes of obsession, stalking, lust, love, passion, forgiveness and heartache are expertly explored, likewise with the characterisations and interactions. The acting is superb as to be expected from both the two leads, again the complexity and nuances of the performances is to be admired.Overall, another masterpiece from Kieslowski though one of his most divisive. 10/10 Bethany Cox

dushyant chaturvedi This is a movie which will blow you away. Period. It doesn't matter whether you are a romantic or a skeptic. This will tear you asunder with its powerful characters and raw emotions.Tomek is a boy in his late teens who spies on his neighbor, Magda, with the help of his binoculars. He watches her through love making sessions and heartbreaks. One day he tells her about his voyeurism. What happens next is what the movie is all about.I chose this movie because I wanted to watch something short in length and this, at just 80 minutes of run time, qualified easily. However, despite fantastic reviews on the net I was not prepared for the sheer emotional power it unleashed.The way the feelings of Tomek and the object of his desire, Magda, are portrayed is masterly to use a clichéd term. The direction by Kieslowski is absolutely God level. The dialogues are kept to a minimum. Kieslowski allows the camera to do the talking. The acting is as natural as they come.I have seen only one other movie by the director which was White, one of the troika in the tri-color trilogy. I plan to check them all out ASAP now.This is what movie watchers talk off when they say that cinema can be pure magic.P.S. some of the scenes were copied by that horrific Hindi movie "Ek Choti si Love Story". Another reason for me never to forgive Mr. Mahesh Bhatt and his acolytes.

Rodrigo Amaro "A Short Film About Love" is a psychological and unconventional love story that urges the viewer to really feel something from the very beginning until the wonderful ending. It's difficult to be impassive, to not feel anything about the story of a lonely young man who fell in love with a distant neighbor and whom he peeps at with stolen binoculars. The story is told through the lens of the binoculars from where 19-year-old Tomek (Olaf Lubaszenko), a shy Post Office worker who spies his opposite neighbor Magda (Grazyna Szapolowska), a very promiscuous woman. In a Hollywood story many people would have thought that he wants to have sex with her and that he's a perverted. But, his actions are quite different and he'll always try to find a way to be near her and the way he does this approaches are quite odd, disturbing Magda's peace by sending false notices or calling the gas company when she's with another guy at her home. He practically knows everything about her and this obsession gives him a return from the woman who thinks she can play with him just like she does with other guys but things can and will follow through some desperate and sad ways. Writer and Director Krzysztof Kieslowski (who wrote the screenplay along with his collaborator Krzysztof Piesiewicz) tells us a story about a dry and tedious world who tends to suffocate and destroy the notion of love (Magda says to Tomek that she doesn't believe in love), and feelings are thrown to the wind by mere acts, and the best thing someone can do is just sit and watch things happen just like Tomek does being an observer because to be part of them it might not be so interesting in the way you thought it could be. Themes of loneliness, pain, emptiness, the lack of communication are intertwined in a very peculiar and interesting way. But it's not just sad things, there's hope and some funny things too. Perhaps the most positive of the characters is the old lady who lives with Tomek, the grandmother of his only friend, and she likes the boy very much and wants him to be settled with someone, she's the one who really cares about him. She's the most communicative figure in the film and every time she says good things to him about how a girl likes to be treated and other things. In a world where it's more easy to shout and complain about everything than to say "I Love You!" Tomek finds his way; he's a bold character with a awkward way to express what he considers to be love. I really prefer his ideal of what love is than to the concept presented in "Atonement" for instance (great film though). It is a realistic story but at the same time it's not. If the director presents a real world with real situations in one hand, on the other he gave us a romantic and cinematic notion of some very fantastic and beautiful things (in real life many people would've call the police if they met a obsessive stalker. Instead of that we see a curious woman who wants to know more about this guy). This contradiction works and life itself has many of them. Kieslowski once again made a wonderful movie, very calm, his camera allows you to see all the details, tiny little things that makes a tremendous effect on the story and in the viewer. The slow pace is precisely great to show Tomek's perspective looking inside of Magda's apartment, all this presented brilliantly. Kieslowski could tell the whole movie just by showing those images that I would love the film anyway. His direction of actors are very efficient too. To me, Olaf Lubaszenko will always be remembered by his portrayal of Tomek, wonderful job, he really felt the character, made him very believable and it's very difficult to resist to his charming puppy eyes. Grazyna Szapolowska is spectacular as well, she dominates the second half of the film in a astonishing way when her character realizes what Tomek really felt about her.Art in its best form, "A Short Film About Love" is highly recommended to everyone who enjoys great cinema and philosophical stories. This movie really is gonna make you to have a opinion about it, it will prevail in your memory. 10/10

Deniz Ziya Toroslu Surprisingly Kieslowski's this movie is disappointing to me because of the sometimes weird and sometimes cliché script that also seems a work of a poor observation sometimes. There is an isolated young boy. He lives with one of his relatives, but he is lonely and every night watches a woman who lives across their building. It seems! that he wants her. He is one of the youths who are not good at communication with the opposite sex. However, he likes that woman, when the woman comes to his house with a man, Tomek gets pain. Then, we understand that Kieslowski tells us a story about an isolated young boy who needs a female to flirt or who falls in love with a mature woman. He does not do something else, because may be he knows that it is his salvation. One day, he stops that woman, suddenly, he seems a shy boy, but proves that he is not, so he explains her almost everything. She lectures and refuses him. Everything is so realistic like the other Kieslowski films, no problem. The problems start when Tomek visits her, the story of a lonely young boy who falls in love with a mature woman (but an unrequited love) turns into the story of a lonely young boy falls in love with a mature woman, at the beginnings the woman refuses, but after a short time, she starts to change her mind. This U-Turn makes the movie cliché firstly. The personality of Tomek is weird? or a result of a poor observation? I disappointed with this character, this is my opinion and I will try to tell why. When he goes to her house, Magda treats him very friendly. She asks what do you want from me? To kiss me? to make love with me? to go out with me? At this point, I remember the people who say she is a femme fatale. See? Returning to the scene, Tomek rejects all the proposals. Why? Because he is shy? I don't think so, but his communication is blunt, OK. After the leg scene at home, some events make the movie misses its aim. I think that the aim of the movie is (should have been according to the story) to show us there are some people who suffer from lack of endearment and to save from this situation is not easy owing to lack of communication and being aloof especially for men. I mean that at this point, what does the movie say? It is blurred and disappointing. It is seen that he is not hunger for love or a female or sex. Then, what? And the suicide attempt scene support this weakness. So that he touches her legs, he wants to kill himself! By the way, as I mentioned before, some say Magda is a femme fatale. Totally not. She endeavors in order to make Tomek happy. Does she avoid having contact with him? No. Does she insult him? No. Does she amuse him? No. And Does she deceive him? No. She has some troubles with her (ex) lover, so she is not O.K. However, she does not take revenge for it from Tomek. She is not an angel, but not a femme fatale also.