Known internationally as both a filmmaker and as a visual artist his works have also been shown in the Biennale as part of the art exhibition with his video work..

For 11 Minutes Skolimowski intertwines the lives and narratives of a jealous husband out of control, his sexy actress wife, a sleazy Hollywood director, a reckless drug messenger, a disoriented young woman, an ex-con hot dog vendor, a troubled student on a mysterious mission, a high-rise window cleaner on an illicit break, an elderly sketch artist, a hectic paramedics team and a group of hungry nuns.

They all seem to be separate but in a mere 11 minutes their fates can all change and be united in a single unexpected calamity.  Despite all the emotions and actions of individuals we really have no control over fate the director seems to tell us.

Set in a sleek and coldly contemporary Warsaw the film’s most interesting characters include the pivoital trio of a sleazy Hollywood producer played by the Irish actor Richard Dormer, cast one supposed to fulfil the Irish-Polish coproduction requirements, a nervous young Polish actress played by Paulina Chapko who trying out for a undefined role in an untitled film in his film via the casting couch in his hotel room and the actress’s jealous husband of 24 hours played by Wojciech Mecwaldowski who is frantically stalking the corridors of the hotel after being overcome by a fit of jealous rage that the film role may require more than just acting from his beautiful wife.

Another vivid character whose last minutes before the final catastrophe is a hot dog seller who has been imprisoner for pedophilia played by top Polish star Andrzej Chyra.  Chyra sells and even gives away hot dogs to passing street characters including a group of nuns and a young punk with a hungry dog played by Ifi Ude.  Chyra probably grabs more of our sympathy than most of the characters in the film as his acting has a way of connecting with the audience even though he does not have a lot of screen time.

The film is full of story threads some less well developed than others such as the team of paramedics that rescue a woman about the give birth from an apartment and a teenager who plans an unsuccessful heist.

The director gives us plenty of red herrings about a phantom airplane and strange appearances in the sky that is mean to lead the audience to think an air disaster of the 9/11 type with an airplane crashing into the high rise building where much of the action takes place is fated to occur.  So it is almost a relief when a totally different ending catastrophic suddenly and unexpectedly appears as the spectacular climax of the film.

The result is a fast moving thriller with much credit to DoP Mikolaj Lebkowski for some spectacular camerawork especially in the final sequences that set off the catastrophe and some fast moving editing by Agnieszka Glinska.  Some overly loud and pounding musical does not add to the final result unfortunately.

Overall an exciting return to Venice by the 77 year old Polish director that is sure to see a wide festival audience and potentially some popular box office also.

Credits:
11 Minutes (Poland, Ireland)
Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski
Produced by Skopia Film and Element Film
Supported by Polish Film Institute
Cast: Richard Dormer, Paulina Chapko, Wojciech Mecwaldowski, Dawid Ogrodnik, Andrzej Chyra