Corpus Christi
Jan Komasa, Poland, 2019o
After spending years in a Warsaw prison for a violent crime, 20-year-old Daniel is released and sent to a remote village to work as a manual laborer. The job is designed to keep the ex-con busy, but Daniel has a higher calling. Over the course of his incarceration he has found Christ, and aspires to join the clergy - but his criminal record means no seminary will accept him. When Daniel arrives in town, one quick lie allows him to be mistaken for the town’s new priest, and he sets about leading his newfound flock.
A little Easter miracle, which is coming to the French-speaking online replacement cinema in the middle of the current state of emergency. The 39-year-old Pole Jan Kosama asks the probing questions and stages with the force of a Krzysztof Kieślowski. With his brilliantly constructed impostor story, he shows a rousing desire for the unheard-of, which sometimes makes great cinema when experts put us on the rollercoaster of a story beyond all probability. The cast is, as so often in Polish cinema, great class, behind the camera Piotr Sobocinski jr. confidently continues the craft of his famous father and grandfather. The Oscar nomination in January was highly deserved; if it hadn't been for Parasite – another outstanding film in the same race – it might even have been enough for the jackpot of world cinema.
Andreas Furler