Tricks

Six-year-old Stefek believes that the man he sees at the same hour every day at the railway station is the father who left them. Instead of approaching him he tries to trick fate: he thinks that by sacrificing small things and putting events into a certain order he can change the outcome. His older sister Elka joins the game. Then something goes wrong and Stefek attempts a far more dangerous trick. Andrzej Jakimowski's film takes place in a small Polish town and stays inside the child's view throughout; the adults are always at the edge, standing there without their thinking ever quite becoming clear. Summer heat, empty platforms, dusty streets. The story is one of loss but does not try to make you cry, because Stefek does not even see the situation as a loss; for him it is a problem that can be solved. Damian Ul and Ewelina Walendziak play the two children. The ending leaves the answer to the viewer.