Still from Malgoska Szumowska's "In the Name of", photo: Michał Englert
If you're out looking for some unnerving activity before Halloween, pop by Film Forum on West Houston Street, which is showing an authentic Berlinale award winner in the conflicted-cleric subgenre
Father Adam, the protagonist of Malgoska Szumowska's drama about unfulfillment and the constant battle between society and individuality, is a humble, much-liked pastor, a human being falling just short of clerical perfection. However, the man turns out not to be as candid as he appears. His relation to a young man from the village reveals the priest's homosexual desires and his struggle with self-imposed abstinence.
"An atmosphere of danger and violence holds the whole film in thrall, and against this backdrop Father Adam’s personal drama emerges," Hollywood Reporter's Deborah Young commented. "Gay priests hardly raise an eyebrow anymore in Western films, but it is rare that their sexual angst is portrayed as sensitively as in Poland’s Berlin competition entry In the Name Of…, which hovers in an interesting middle ground between Gothic expressionism and psychological drama, heightened by a fine cast and outstanding performances." The film boasts Best Feature Film 2013 in the Teddy Award category 2013 at the Berlinale, where festival director Dieter Kosslick called it "a very up-to-date commentary about the present situation in Church."
Read more about In the Name Of on Culture.pl
Check ou the playing times at Film Forum
Author: MJ 23.10.2013
Sources: Film Forum, culture.pl, Hollywood Reporter, Screen International