This previously unreleased feature length of Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Killing is a film about killing, murder, a drifter and corporal punishment. The film seems as much about the polarities between the psychology of the murderer (representing perhaps the inner self or subconscious) and society (our conscious sense of the world) and our disconnection to it. Scenes from a drifter’s life are interspersed between those of a taxi driver who without reason is brutally murdered by the drifter. An unlawful crime is now in the hands of the law as the boy responsible faces the court and imminent sentencing, a legal death. Kieslowski does not try to explain the killer’s motivation but uses an unusual choreographed camera style to portray a disturbing disconnection between the drifter and the brutal murder of his victim. The light in the film is pulled from the edges of the frame to highlight the subject but also separate him visually from the outside world and his actions. As the court case proceeds we learn less about the motives of the killer and more of the cold morals of corporal punishment. The chilling parallels of the legal system and the unspoken psychology of the disconnected drifter are sealed with the verdict.ESC.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
311583
Languages
English
Polish
Audience classification
R (18+)
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Foreign language films
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Violence in motion pictures
Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers
Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers → Suspense
Crime, Espionage, Justice, Police & Prisons → Murder
Crime, Espionage, Justice, Police & Prisons → Violent crimes
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Corporal punishment
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Violence in motion pictures
Feature films → Feature films - Poland
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Psychology, Pathological
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)