DbcultAccessing Vault...
6.6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Granitsa remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have some free time and love old, dusty black-and-white films that smell like history, Granitsa is absolutely worth your time. It is great for anyone who likes seeing how directors used to build tension with nothing but shadows and loud noises. If you hate slow pacing and characters who spend ten minutes staring at fences, you will probably want to skip this one. 🍿
The whole thing is set in a Jewish town split right down the middle by the Soviet-Polish border. The capitalist side is full of greedy bosses, and the Soviet side is... well, you can guess how the Soviet filmmakers painted their side.
Honestly, the propaganda is laid on thick, but the human stuff is what kept me watching. There is this one scene in a tailor shop that actually reminded me of Rip & Stitch: Tailors, except here everybody looks like they haven't slept in three weeks.
The sound design is incredibly loud. The sewing machines sound like actual machine guns, which might just be because of the bad 1935 microphones, but it makes the shop feel like a war zone. 🧵
Also, the actor Nikolay Cherkasov shows up and he just has this energy that makes everyone else look like they are standing still. He doesn't even have to do much, just stands there looking tall and intense.
There is a lot of whispering. People are always leaning in to tell secrets, and the audio hiss is so loud it sounds like steam escaping from a radiator.
Its not a perfect movie, and some of the political stuff is super obvious. But man, those faces are incredible. You just don't see people who look like this in modern movies anymore. They look like they were carved out of wood.
If you can find a copy with decent subtitles, give it a go. Just do not expect a happy, shiny Hollywood ending.