“EO” (2022)

EO

Grade: C+

In the current era of sequels, franchises, reboots and remakes, it’s increasingly hard to find a movie that is original and wholly unique. EO, about a noble donkey and the harsh humanity he observes, proves that America isn’t the only country guilty of such cinematic sins: European art films are culpable, too. One does not simply remake Robert Bresson’s 1966 classic Au Hasard Balthazar. A few more notes on EO:

Directing:

EO is definitely a beautiful film with stunning, artful, occasionally avant-garde directing by veteran Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski. Thanks also to Mychał Dymek’s cinematography, every frame is a deep-focus sight to behold, so clear that you can literally see the donkey’s individual hairs. Likewise, Skolimowki’s constantly moving camera adds majesty to the visuals. It’s the complete opposite of Bresson and Balthazar, an approach which was based in ascetic minimalism. And that’s why the film ultimately fails: the skilled directing is too much of a distraction from the storyline, or rather, the storyline — or lack thereof — is so boring that the skilled direction cannot overcome it.

Either way you slice it, Skolimowki’s expressionist flourishes (e.g., the infrared tint, the mirrored effects, the fisheye lens, etc.) are all style no substance, clearly trying to compensate for the obscurity of the film’s “message.” Perhaps he was more influenced by Stanley Kubrick’s stargate sequence in 2001 or Terence Malick’s Tree of Life rather than Bresson’s original donkey classic.

Acting:

Even in the casting department, EO is stuck between naturalistic and extravagant. Non-professional actors play the soccer hooligans, construction workers and circus freaks that the donkey encounters in realistic slices of everyday Polish life, while more familiar international stars like Isabelle Huppert and Lorenzo Zurzolo play a pair of wealthy incestuous nobles in a castle. Every actor does a good job, but the sheer randomness of it all once again blurs what the film is attempting to convey, if anything.

Writing:

It’s not fair of me to constantly compare EO to Au Hasard Balthazar — one is about a donkey’s journey through the French countryside in the 1960s; the other is about a donkey’s journey through the Polish countryside in the 2020s. Both are ultimately about the follies of humanity, but only one film has genuine emotion and pathos…and you know which film that is.

EO is an arbitrary sequence of events, with characters who drop in and out and are never heard from again. Likewise, the random acts of violence — there are several gruesome murders and a few kinky misdeeds — are eye-catching taboos designed to wake the audience up rather than provide any deeper meaning. Yes, humanity is evil, but we’re not really so boring, are we? Perhaps Skolimowski was also inspired by Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman — this 88-minute film felt like three-and-a-half hours.

Music:

Once again adding to the artifice and taking away from the naturalism, Paweł Mykietyn’s droning score is nightmarish and surreal. It overwhelms the audience and tells us how to feel instead of letting us come to our own conclusions, which betrays Skolimowki’s minimalist technique. As a piece of ambient postmodern classical music, Mykietyn’s score is very good — I’d gladly listen to it while running the dishwasher. But as a part of EO, it’s just another distraction. The visuals and the soundtrack are both good on their own terms, yet they are an ill-fitting match when associated with the story that Skolimowski is trying to tell.

Ending (SPOILERS):

People who do not like seeing animals suffer should not watch this movie. In fact, I don’t really recommend this movie to anyone, but I’ll let you come to your own conclusions if you’d like. Upping the physical violence of Au Hasard Balthazar, EO ends with the titular donkey standing alongside a group of cows being shuffled into a slaughterhouse. It amounts to nothing more than “man should not abuse nature.” It’s a fake-deep movie: beautiful and skilled direction + interesting experimental soundtrack + intriguing yet unoriginal premise + boring storyline with nothing to say = surface-level film that critics fawn over for aesthetic reasons. Not this critic, however.

I wanted to like this film, and Skolimowski’s visuals are truly spectacular, but I was ultimately unmoved. If you can change my mind, I’m all ears.

“May all of your dreams come true.” — Kasandra

Why EO gets a C+:

Skolimowski’s visuals are truly terrific, but EO is perhaps the most “all style, no substance” film released in the 2020s.

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