Summer Love

Colour, 35 mm
Poland, USA, 2006, 93 min
Section: Cinema Gallery

Synopsis

The film opens with Stranger (Karel Roden) riding into town with the corpse of a Wanted Man (Val Kilmer). This, the “first ever Polish western”, presents an unusual genre variation by celebrated artist Piotr Uklanski. He has created neither parody nor homage, but instead exploits “cinema’s most codified genre” as the framework for his symbolic film. The characters have no names, some of them don’t even speak during the story. The presence of a “star-cast corpse” is a kind of jibe at the need for Euro films to feature Hollywood stars. The Stranger soon becomes embroiled in a love triangle between the local barmaid (Katarzyna Figura) and the alcoholic sheriff (Bogusław Linda). Based on the principle of a “copy of a copy”, Summer Love, shot in the mountains of southern Poland, is steeped in dark humour, reminiscent of the depressing western atmosphere. Since its premiere at the Venice festival, the film has been screened in the context of both contemporary art and film.

About the director

Piotr Uklanski (b. 1968, Warsaw), one of Poland’s best known contemporary artists, today lives in New York and Warsaw. The film world acknowledged his achievements with the controversial exhibition The Nazis (1998), photographs of Nazi film characters taken out of context and shown without permission from the actors. The exhibition in Poland was publicly trashed by outraged actor Daniel Olbrychski. Films include Dance Floor (1996) and Untitled [The Full Burn] (1998). The film Summer Love is his first feature.