LET US BE HYPNOTISED - THE REVIEW OF THE FILM "THE GIFT"
Yesterday, in the cinema Kino Mikro, the première of "The Gift" was held, the film which is included in the National Competition at the 56th Krakow Film Festival. The next screening is held on June 2, in the cinema Kino Kijów.Centrum.
"The Gift" hypnotised me, as if I myself submitted to the practices of Yuriy Morkiszczev, the hypnotist who is the protagonist of the documentary film by Przemysław Kamiński. Almost for 60 minutes of the duration of the screening, I was looking at the screen, with concentration and curiosity, and various thoughts about the protagonist and the functioning of human psyche appeared in my head.
Music and cinematography create here the atmosphere on the border between sleeping and waking. Slow movements of the camera, the use of retardation and depriving the image of focus and then re-focusing it again - it is enough to have a sensation as if you were in another dimension. Kamiński is quite successful in getting the effect of making the viewers identify with the hypnotised man, "being in his shoes," also thanks to the use of music from the outside of the observed world. The scenes, in which Mokriszczev hypnotises the wedding guests during the party, are accompanied by peaceful and at the same disturbing sounds, composed by Andrzej Smolik. It creates the atmosphere of anticipation, uncertainty and sometimes even of dread. Why does the protagonist put the party-goers to sleep? What will he do with them later? Although it is known that nothing bad will happen, the director manages to create suspense, much desired in the cinema.
The film's protagonist is Yuriy from Ukraine, a man strongly devoted to the Orthodox religion. In his home village, being a hypnotist and at the same time an Orthodox believer, meets with opposition. During a visit at home he admits that he is afraid of going to the Orthodox church, that he feels there as if he was a spy. As the story develops, we learn from Yuriy that during the séances he conducted, he repeatedly sensed the presence of evil, that he felt Satan next to him. I got the impression that the protagonist confesses to it with pain, as if he treated his gift not only as a gift, but also as a curse.
The way of filming this story by Kamiński and its telling by Mokriszczev creates a very complex portrait of the protagonist. "The Gift" is in part a documentary about the work of the hypnotist, and in part a story of a specific man, brought up in specific conditions and feeling in a specific way. Here, there is a place for intimate confessions about an old flame, regrets addressed to his parents and tears connected to yearning for a close person. This great sensitivity of Yuryi translates into his work. You can turn hypnosis into a spectacle and Mokriszczev does it. Often, however, he goes in a different direction: he hypnotises people to give them some positive fluids, belief in their own abilities, love for themselves and people around them and the sense of happiness. I have never been in favour of hypnosis, but if it would look like this, I say yes to it.
The text: Agnieszka Młynarczyk