I Am

Colour, 35 mm
Poland, 2005, 97 min
Section: Variety Critics´ Choice

Synopsis

Established Polish helmer Dorota Kędzierzawska’s outstandingly good drama I Am unfolds a heart-wrenching tale of a resourceful tyke living rough in a small town after escaping a children´s home. Name of pic’s 11-year-old protagonist is never known, although some call him Kundel, translated as “Mongrel”. Kundel hops the fence at the repressive, gray institution he’s housed at and returns to his hometown. Although little is said, there are clearly serious issues between Kundel and his often drunk mother. After a disturbing initial reunion with Mom, Kundel runs off and takes shelter on an abandoned barge. A wealthy family lives just yards away in a big house, and soon the brood’s younger daughter Kuleczka, who at 9 already has a little drinking problem, starts paying Kundel visits and a tentative first love begins to take shape. Kędzierzawska’s stylised story feels almost like a contempo fairy tale with a potentially fatal undertow.