Wonderful performances but...

Rating: 8/10 (8 October 2018)

Saw this at a screening last night in NYC.
The film is visually striking and the two central performances are quite wonderful but it just didn't quite add up for me. I suppose seeing Alfonso Cuaron's incredible film Roma (also stunningly shot in black and white) the night before may have unfairly influenced my view of this one. Still, I wanted more from this film and ultimately didn't get it-I'm referring to the sort of character/plot/setting details which fly fast and furious throughout Roma but which rarely seem to appear in Cold War.
The director Pawel Pawlikowski and leading lady Joanna Kulig (who really is superb playing a very difficult character) were at the screening for a Q&A. Both were extremely charming and articulate. I enjoyed Pawlikowski revealing that he advised Kulig to bone up on the 1940s siren Lauren Bacall to capture her character's "sarcasm." My main issue with the film came to the fore when Kulig said one of the reasons her character felt out of place during the film's midsection was because Zula missed her "family" of folk singer/dancers. The problem is we never actually SAW her interact with them like a "family." In fact we only saw her interact with one of them once during the audition sequence very early in the film and even then it was for an opportunistic reason.
I do recommend this film, though. Many of the set pieces involving music are striking and there are many images (especially Miss Kulig floating in a lake) which will stay with you for a long time. I'll definitely see it again when it lands on Amazon Prime.