Courtney Howard // Film Critic
EO
Not Yet Rated, 1hour and 26 minutes
Directed by: Jerzy Skolimowski
Starring: Sandra Drzymalska, Isabelle Huppert, Lorenzo Zurzolo, Mateusz Kosciukiewicz
Film critic turned filmmaker Jean Luc-Godard called AU HASARD BALTHAZAR “the world in an hour and a half.” And, for pessimists en masse, it truly is. French filmmaker Robert Bresson’s punishing, gutting drama, where a once-beloved donkey is subjected to both kindness and brutality over the course of its short existence, was meant as a reflection of the times. Yet it also doubles as a disquieting, disturbing mirror of humanity at its abusive worst.
Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO – a semi-inspired spin on the aforementioned film centered on another precious donkey – showcases a similar strife, though it’s not nearly as unrelentingly bleak as its predecessor. If that means our world is improving, we’ll gratefully grasp at those straws along with this astute storyteller. By blending a small dash of humor into the heartbreaking, harrowing proceedings, this massively engrossing tale examines modern Europe as a place where a beautiful creation can either be celebrated or snuffed out.
EO the donkey lives his best life as a traveling circus act performer with Kasandra (Sandra Drzymalska), the human trainer he adores and who loves him dearly. But things change quickly for him when, thanks to pesky animal rights activists, the show is shut down and he’s shipped off to work as a Cinderella of sorts, laboring at a premiere horse stable. There he learns horses are prized for their looks, lovingly groomed and photographed in slick editorial spreads. One of the best scenes involves EO stumbling onto a fashion shoot with a horse, with Skolimowski’s camera catching him in thoughtful repose as if thinking “Why not me?”
Unfortunately, EO’s travels and travails worsen from there. After rebelliously causing calamitous destruction to that property, he’s shipped off to a farm. He briefly reunites with his loving Kasandra, only to be pulled apart again and escape in the process. Now a donkey on the lam, his journey takes him through the quiet, haunting beauty of nature and through cobblestone streets, as he meets all sorts of people from soccer hooligans to a spoiled young man en route to Italy. Not all of his encounters are beneficial to his survival, as he’s thrown into peril more often than not. But it leads to a heartening, rapturously lensed journey.
The picture works best when the audience anthropomorphizes our four-legged hero, projecting their feelings onto him. Screenwriters Skolimowski and Ewa Piaskowska know this and play with our sympathies as such. Manipulation is a strange bedfellow. Blessedly, it’s subtle and ghost-like, gently holding our hand as if to guide us through the wholly cinematic voyage, helping to place the protagonist’s perspective at the forefront. Internal and external stakes are vividly drawn and captured, climaxing in a vignette featuring Isabelle Huppert chastising her handsome bad boy charge, dramatically tearing down velvet curtains, breaking dishes and taboos all whilst looking absolutely glam.
Everything culminates in a sad, deflating epilogue. While it doesn’t render the film moot, it’s an aching conclusion that’s neither sentimental nor truly satiating, given we’ve come to love this donkey as he should be cherished. This is what it sounds like when donkeys cry – and maybe you too.
Grade: 4 out of 5
EO plays AFI Fest on November 5. It releases in theater in NY on November 18 and in LA on December 2.
