When Angels Fall

1959

Polish

6.8

♡ 4

Roman Polanski Director

Henryk Kluba as

Barbara Lass as (as Barbara Kwiatkowski)

Roman Polanski as Old woman

Andrzej Kostenko as (uncredited)

The twenty-one-minute-film is set in a men's public rest room and recounts the day to day existence of an elderly woman who serves as an attendant in the lavatory. As an endless procession of men pass before her, relieving themselves in the urinals, the attendant escapes her reality by daydreaming about the past and the soldier she once loved and the child she bore him.

Le gros et le maigre

1961

French

6.2

♡ 2

Action

Comedy

Music

Roman Polanski Director

André Katelbach as The fat

Roman Polanski as The lean

A small and thin barefoot slave (played by Polanski) plays a flute and beats a drum to entertain his large master who rocks in a rocking chair in front of his mansion. The slave jumps and leaps like a madman, wipes his master's brow, feeds him, washes his feet, shades him from the sun with an umbrella and holds a urinal for him.

A Generation

1955

Polish

7.1

♡ 8

77%

based on novel or book

Andrzej Wajda Director

Zofia Czerwinska as Bartender Lola

Franciszek Pieczka as German Patrolman

Roman Polanski as Mundek

Janusz Paluszkiewicz as Sekula

Stach is a wayward teen living in squalor on the outskirts of Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Guided by an avuncular Communist organizer, he is introduced to the underground resistance—and to the beautiful Dorota. Soon he is engaged in dangerous efforts to fight oppression and indignity, maturing as he assumes responsibility for others’ lives. A coming-of-age story of survival and shattering loss, A Generation delivers a brutal portrait of the human cost of war.

Bad Luck

1960

Polish

7.4

♡ 5

88%

Action

Comedy

Andrzej Munk Director

Edward Dziewonski as Jelonek

Roman Polanski as Jola's Tutor

Barbara Lass as Jola Wrona-Wronska

Krystyna Karkowska as Wrona-Wronska

To convince the prison warden against releasing him, a middle-aged Polish man recounts his life, one he considers to have been characterized by exceptionally bad luck.

The Revenge

2002

Polish

5.7

♡ 4

49%

Comedy

Andrzej Wajda Director

Daniel Olbrychski as Dyndalski

Roman Polanski as Józef Papkin

Agata Buzek as Klara Raptusiewiczówna

Andrzej Seweryn as Rejent Milczek

A winter day at a Polish castle, half owned by a fatalistic notary and half by a volcanic old soldier's niece. The old soldier, Cupbearer, and the notary are sworn enemies, which may doom the love between the niece, Klara, and the notary's son, Waclaw. On this day, the tongue-tied Cupbearer asks a braggart courtier, Papkin, to sue on his behalf for the hand of the widow Hanna. Papkin succeeds and

Kanal

1957

Polish

7.9

♡ 13

traveling through a sewer

War

warsaw uprising

Andrzej Wajda Director

Roman Polanski as Crawling Insurgent

Ewa Wisniewska as Girl giving water

Vladek Sheybal as Michal 'Ogromny', the composer

Wladyslaw Kowalski as Polish Soldier

In the last few days of the Warsaw Uprising during World War II, a modest group of Resistance members remains. The band must take refuge in the sewers under the orders of leader Zadra, but it's only a matter of time before they will have to emerge. However, when they try, they are met only with intense hostility from the Nazis. Despite their attempts stay resolute through immense mental strain, it becomes increasingly apparent that they may be doomed.

Back in the U.S.S.R.

1992

English

4.9

♡ 6

corruption

Crime

Drama

smuggling (contraband)

Thriller

Deran Sarafian Director

Frank Whaley as Archer

Boris Romanov as Father Peter

Ravil Isyanov as Georgi

Roman Polanski as Kurilov

A vacationing American and a sultry Russian thief lead police and smugglers on a deadly chase through Moscow.

Knife in the Water

1962

Polish

7.4

♡ 14

97%

Roman Polanski Director

Leon Niemczyk as Andrzej

Jolanta Umecka as Krystyna

Roman Polanski as Young Man

Zygmunt Malanowicz as Young Man

On their way to an afternoon on the lake, husband and wife Andrzej and Krystyna nearly run over a young hitchhiker. Inviting the young man onto the boat with them, Andrzej begins to subtly torment him; the hitchhiker responds by making overtures toward Krystyna. When the hitchhiker is accidentally knocked overboard, the husband's panic results in unexpected consequences.

A Pure Formality

1994

French

7.5

♡ 25

80%

Giuseppe Tornatore Director

Sergio Rubini as Andre, the Young Policeman

Roman Polanski as Inspector

Paolo Lombardi as Marshall

Gérard Depardieu as Onoff

Onoff is a famous writer, now a recluse. The Inspector is suspicious when Onoff is brought into the station one night, disoriented and suffering a kind of amnesia. In an isolated, rural police station, the Inspector tries to establish the events surrounding a killing, to reach a startling resolution.