Cold War; or, Wiktor & Zula

Rating: 9/10 (27 December 2019)

"I just want to tell the story of two characters I'm interested in." -Pawel Pawlikowski (director)
I only saw this film because one of my movie peeps "highly encouraged" me... and promised to refund my ticket if I didn't like it, which I assumed I wouldn't. I liked it. Since I gave it a 4.5/5 on Letterboxd, I'll just give it a 9/10 officially.
(significantly easier to read on my blog)
There be slight spoilers below.

Cold War was an interesting story of two totally appropriately aged lovers who couldn't make it work long enough to avoid drama and sabotage. It was essentially an adult version of Romeo and Juliet, but with more realism, adult matters, and wartime politics. I feel more sorry for him than her, but that may be due to the film focusing almost entirely on his perspective and me sharing his demographic.
All of that being said, I really enjoyed the first half's performances prior to the forced politicization into propaganda. Up until that point, they had so much soul in their performances and love for what they were doing. I felt like I was being allowed to bear witness to people's cultures and appreciated it every time. Once the propaganda bulged in, it all became hollow and they themselves became smiling husks. Props to the film crew for accomplishing this. I'm now wondering how accurate that part of the film is to what was going on at the time.
If you think Cold War is about the performances, fear not. They're just a major part of the first half in that the plot is centered around them in a non-overwhelming way. The second half is... let's say a story about a male making his way through life and being occasionally visited by the ghosts of his past in rather life-altering ways. No, it's not magical. Just realistic in the way people and decisions affect your life. Smaller-form performances persists throughout the second half, mind you. That reminds me, the performances are consistently used to portray the mood and feelings of the characters. I'm especially thinking of the last performance in this regard... ~and I'll leave it there.

Things I Like:
1) Dat cinematography
1a) Lemme rave real quick about how much that reflection scene got me in the first half. To pull that simple trick so subtly and at the same time not only foreshadow but allow the audience to presume so much. ðŸ‘Œ
2) Da performances

Side Notes:
I highly recommend watching the behind the scenes videos such as Amazon Studios' "Featurette" after the film because of how much more I'm starting to appreciate it. I say "after" because realizing that I was seeing it in color after all these months hit me in an strange way and I suspect doing so beforehand would have affected my experience.
I don't recall what song was playing during the end credits, but I remember staying seated the entire time.

Favorite Line:
"He mistook me for my mother so I used a knife to show him the difference." -Zula

Favorite Character:
Zula (when she's not being drama). For her spunkiness.

About the Trailers (1 & 2):
Y'all, I love it when a trailer manages to show so much and reveal so little. All I'll say is that it effectively covered, say, 50% of major moments but having done so without context revealed next to nothing to the viewer. That being said, if you want to skip the slightest of spoilers, skip 1:28-1:30 and 1:40-1:44 of the first trailer and 1:26-1:32 of the second. Enjoy.

Similarities:
The Fire (2015). For how I feel worse for him than her.

Disclosure:
I saw and discussed it with a group in February, so my opinion's been affected by them and my memory of the film is lacking.