The Balcony Movie

Paweł Łoziński's 2021 Polish documentary was shot from a single point: the balcony of the director's flat in Warsaw. For two and a half years Łoziński put questions to the people passing on the pavement below; the camera never moves, and people come and go. The simplicity of the questions is what gives the method its force: are you happy, are you content with your life, what happened. Some walk on, some stop and tell what they have not spoken about for years; a man just out of prison, an elderly woman, a pregnant passer-by. The fixed frame leaves it to chance who enters and who leaves, and a cross-section builds up. It won the Grand Prix of the Semaine de la critique at Locarno. Who it's for: viewers who like observational documentary and single-idea formal experiments. Who it's not for: anyone wanting incident and development, or who will find a fixed frame monotonous.