A thriller centered on a political prisoner who attempts his escape.
Intense, pared-down and single-minded, Essential Killing presents the fight for survival at its most elemental. An impressive comeback from a highly individual filmmaker.
If you’re averse to political preaching, fear not: geopolitics acts as little more than window dressing in Jerzy Skolimowski’s wilfully enigmatic but structurally-familiar drama.
Gallo convinces as a desperate man on the run for his life and capable of anything. Don't expect wordy interplay or political exposition though: this thriller is a mood piece that's all but dialogue free.
It could almost have been made as a silent movie, which is a credit both to Gallo's performance and Skolimowski's pared-down storytelling.
The film is on the verge of delirium: a gripping metaphysical drama.
The film, like Mohammed’s quest, begins to feel like a trudge.
Essential Killing is a movie you want to like more than you can.
As a near-abstract rumination on war and survival, it has a certain stark potency.
It's a stark, pared down, existential pursuit story.
The film never provides definitive answers as to what's driving him, but that works in its favour, forcing us to recognise that on some level the atavistic desire to stay alive might be what makes us all human.
Polish director, writer and actor Jerzy Skilimowski on new film Essential Killing
Jerzy Skolimowski: This Killing was nearly the death of me
Jerzy Skolimowski
General release. Check local listings for show times.
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday April 29, 2011, until Thursday May 5, 2011. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com