EO

Jerzy Skolimowski and friend

Jerzy Skolimowski's EO, by my measure the best feature film of 2022, is a remarkable capstone to a magnificent career. The film illustrate vignettes from the life of a donkey, starting with his stint in a circus to his ultimate end in an abattoir. The vivacity and freshness of the director's approach would be impressive in a tyro much less an octogenarian. EO is an ornery and unpredictable film that exposes human folly and cruelty.

The obvious inspiration for Skolimowski and his co-scenarist Ewa Piaskowska is Robert Bresson's sublime masterpiece Au Hasard Balthazar. EO is an interesting counterpoint to the work of that peculiar French Catholic Marxist. In contrast to Armond White calling Skolimowski a nihilist in National Review, I would type him as a secular humanist. Balthazar the donkey in Bresson's film is a symbol of Christian suffering and humility. EO the donkey is more of a tabula rasa providing the director an opportunity to offer a heartfelt and sardonic look at his homeland of Poland in the 21st century. Stylistically, the two directors are chalk and cheese. Bresson is an austere director who largely eschews stylistic flourishes. His camera almost always remains fixed, with lots of close-ups of hands. Skolimowski uses all the tricks of the trade to offer a dizzying array of points of view: Steadicam tracks, strobe effects, drone shots. I doubt Bresson would have used a drone shot if a gun was put to his head.

Au Hasard Balthazar

The craft of Michal Dymek's cinematography and Pawl Mykietyn's score help unify the disparate elements that make up EO. Skolimowski has always been an unruly talent with his share of duds, but EO is up there with his masterworks which include Deep End (1971), The Shout(1978), Moonlighting(1982), and 11 Minutes (2016).