Cinematography:
Michal EnglertCast:
Alec Utgoff, Maja Ostaszewska, Agata Kulesza, Weronika Rosati, Katarzyna Figura, Lukasz Simlat, Andrzej Chyra, Krzysztof Czeczot, Maciej Drosio (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
From multi award-winning writer/director Małgorzata Szumowska and her long-time cinematographer Michał Englert, Never Gonna Snow Again is a beguiling modern fable about an affluent gated community forever altered by the arrival of an enigmatic stranger who may - or may not - have powers of healing. One grey, foggy morning, a mysterious young man, Zhenia (Alec Utgoff), crosses the border from the Ukraine into Poland, carrying only a massage table. When faced with a staid official at Warsaw’s immigration office, he secures the necessary residence permit by simply taking the man’s head in his huge, soft hands and massaging him into a trance. Zhenia soon establishes himself with the well-to-do residents of a suburban gated community of identical white McMansions, where his unique talents quickly become in demand. Among the clientele are Maria (Maja Ostaszewska), who finds a calm in Zhenia that her hostile children and husband don’t provide; derisive widow Ewa (Agata Kulesza) who lusts after the masseur in more ways than she’ll dare admit; a woman obsessed by her three bulldogs who pleads for them to also be treated, and Wika (Weronika Rosati), who has invested the last hopes for her cancer-stricken husband (Lukasz Simlat) in Zhenia’s seemingly magical fingertips. But as he navigates through the affairs, drinking, drug-taking and games of neighbourly one-upmanship, no one thinks to ask Zhenia about his own concerns, least of all his mysterious origins...
Anchored by Utgoff’s utterly magnetic central performance, Szumowska and Englert’s study of class and modern malaise astutely blends magic realism with dark humour and stunning production design to often jaw-dropping effect. Following Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War and Jan Komasa’s Corpus Christi as Poland’s official entry to the Academy Awards, Never Gonna Snow Again is a striking jewel worthy of equal attention.
(Palace Films)
Cast
Alec Utgoff
Ukraine
Best movies:
Stranger Things (2016) (series)
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
Never Gonna Snow Again (2020)
Maja Ostaszewska
Poland
Best movies:
Schindler's List (1993)
The Pianist (2002)
The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009) (TV movie)
Agata Kulesza
Poland
Best movies:
25 Years of Innocence (2020)
The Hater (2020)
The Wedding Day (2021)
Weronika Rosati
Poland
Best movies:
Drowsiness (2008)
In Darkness (2011)
Foreign Body (2014)
Katarzyna Figura
Poland
Best movies:
The Pianist (2002)
Kariera Nikosia Dyzmy (2002)
Historie miłosne (1997)
Lukasz Simlat
Poland
Best movies:
Sonata (2021)
Corpus Christi (2019)
Świadek koronny (2007)
Andrzej Chyra
Poland
Best movies:
Leave No Traces (2021)
The Wedding Day (2021)
The Last Family (2016)
Krzysztof Czeczot
Poland
Best movies:
Pitbull. New Orders (2016)
80 Million (2011)
Zero (2009)
Maciej Drosio
Best movies:
Never Gonna Snow Again (2020)
Olaf Marchwicki
Poland
Best movies:
Clergy (2018)
Letters to Santa (2011)
Never Gonna Snow Again (2020)
Astrid Nanowska
Best movies:
Never Gonna Snow Again (2020)
Wojciech Starostecki
Poland
Best movies:
Never Gonna Snow Again (2020)
Jerzy Nasierowski
Poland
Best movies:
Johnny (2022)
Boys Don't Cry (2000)
Life As a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (2000)
Konstantin Solovyov
Soviet Union
Best movies:
V avgustě 44-go (2001)
The Balkan Line (2019)
Never Gonna Snow Again (2020)
Blanka Burzyńska
Best movies:
Never Gonna Snow Again (2020)
Delivery by Christmas (2022)
Squared Love All over Again (2023)
Adrian Podlaski
Best movies:
Never Gonna Snow Again (2020)
Planet Single 3 (2019)
Lena Wochal
Best movies:
Never Gonna Snow Again (2020)
Casper Richard Petersen
Best movies:
Never Gonna Snow Again (2020)
Roman Gancarczyk
Poland
Best movies:
Sonata (2021)
Loving (2012)
Śmierć jak kromka chleba (1994)
Maria Seweryn
Poland
Best movies:
The Conductor (1980)
Women's Day (2012)
Julie Walking Home (2002)