Ziarno prawdy

Adaptation of Miłoszewski's original, which has dense atmosphere, excellent cast and is stylish in terms of following genre of "northern noir", where sociological and social overlaps and historical Polish skeletons are addressed. Więckiewicz enjoys this pragmatically cynical approach, which is hardly surprising, since he has been so good in this area that his movies became simply must-watch purely because of him. However, all the strong points are overshadowed by his biggest snag. The creators scores their own goal by the way how straightforward the local investigation is, clearly build up in the style of mediocre genre movies and, thanks to that, completely predictable from the very beginning. Considering that you need to wait so much time until the main character finally understands what you already know from the very beginning after having watched the complex investigation of all suspect that is required by the genre rules, it can hardly be considered a successful crime movie. Paradoxically, it is better and more interesting thanks to its overlap rather than the genre level. (14/11/2015)

In this film, the Poles dive into the realm of dark Nordic noir with a mysterious plot and a nod to their own history. I usually love stories like this, but the main character, the investigator, spends the entire movie looking clueless, and his investigation lacks logic, which dampens the experience a bit. The dark atmosphere is great, and the setting in the eastern Polish town of Sandomierz is very appealing. However, the plot doesn't quite align with a good, suspenseful detective story. There are too many coincidences, everything conveniently falls into his lap, and it feels more like he's just going through the motions rather than actually solving anything. (24/11/2022)