Shorts

Feature, 10/15/8 min, Poland 1959
Wednesday, September 30th, 19:30 hrs, , OV

Ssaki
Director: Roman Polanski
Script: Roman Polanski, Andrzej Kondriatiuk
Photography: Andrzej Kostenko
Editors: Janina Niedzwiedzka, Halina Prugar
Music: Krzysztof T. Komeda
Principal Cast: Henryk Kluba, Michal Zolnierkiewicz

Dwaj ludzie z szafa
Director
: Roman Polanski  
Script: Roman Polanski
Photography: Maciej Kijowski
Music: Krzysztof T. Komeda
Principal Cast: Jakuba Goldberga, Henryka Klube

Lampa
Director
: Roman Polanski
Script: Roman Polanski
Photography: Krzysztof Romanowski
Principal Cast: Roman Polanski
 

Polanski's trademark combination of a gloomy view of the world and absurd humor is already very present in his early short films. In "Ssaki" (1962), two men get into a fight about who will pull the other one on a sled. They keep coming up with new fake injuries to get around having to be the puller. "Dwaj ludzie z szafa" (1958) is a bitterly sarcastic variation on the theme of selfishness. "Lampa" (1959) does without human malice, but can also be understood as an allegory. In a puppet maker's store, a fuse box comes alive one night. It sets the puppets aflame; meanwhile, on the outside, passers-by amble on in willful ignorance.