Certificate: 15 (strong language, violence, threat). Running Time: 88 mins. UK Distributor: BFI
WHO’S IN IT?
Sandra Drzymalska, Lorenzo Zurzolo, Mateusz Kościukiewicz, Isabelle Huppert
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Jerzy Skolimowski (director, writer, producer), Ewa Piaskowska (writer, producer) Pawel Mykietyn (composer), Michal Dymek (cinematographer), Agnieszka Glinska (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A donkey encounters a wide variety of scenarios as it travels throughout Europe…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON EO?
The title character of EO, the latest film from Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski, is a lovable donkey – but don’t for a second be fooled into thinking that this is a light-hearted and cuddly affair, because I assure you that it is everything but that.
Inspired heavily by Robert Bresson’s 1966 classic Au Hasard Balthazar, EO basically follows said donkey – portrayed by a total of six donkey actors – as he goes from one owner to the next across a modern Europe. He starts out at a Polish circus, where he is cared for by sympathetic performer Kasandra (Sandra Drzymalska), but activists protesting the circus’s exploitation of live animals sees EO transferred to some fancy stables, then to a child-friendly farm, and later wandering straight into a number of other scenarios, each one more concerning than the last. Among the many humans that he encounters are a rowdy group of football hooligans, animal smugglers, factory workers, and an Italian countess (Isabelle Huppert) who is perhaps more than a little unstable. Oh, and along the way, the donkey witnesses several disturbing acts, including abusive handlers, the hunting of wild wolves, being forced to pull carts at a murderous fox fur farm, being beaten within an inch of its life, and even witnessing a person get their throat sliced in cold blood.
So, yeah, EO definitely isn’t one to take the kids to.
However, Skolimowski – who also wrote and produced the film with his wife Ewa Piaskowska – manages to update Bresson’s similar classic with a more immediate sense of journey throughout an increasingly hostile modern Europe. Whereas Au Hasard Balthazar charts its respective donkey’s life literally from birth to death, EO picks up well into its own mule’s career as a circus performer, where within minutes he’s being brutally whipped by the circus’s abusive owner, and just as quickly on the move to his next destination. From a structural standpoint, it can at first be tough to get a gage on the emotional weight of this scenario, because not enough time has been spent with EO at this circus or with its more loving owners for the viewer to feel the devastation that is clearly being signalled. It is the same with many other things going forward: characters and plot strands are introduced, exit abruptly, come back unexpectedly, disappear entirely, wash, rinse, repeat. However, what this creates is a sense of urgency, which moves things along swiftly and with little time to worry about anyone that we happen to meet in passing, something that oddly puts the viewer more into the mindset of this unassuming donkey as it freely wanders from one place to the next without a care in the world.
At just under ninety minutes, EO can’t afford to waste precious time on this whistlestop European tour, and so it glides over a number of brutal environments that get considerably more odd and even heart-breaking as they go along. The donkey itself (more specifically, the six well-trained donkey performers we’re seeing play this particular animal) is a sweet and gentle figure, which of course makes any animal lover fall in love with it upon first sight, but also devastating when we see it be cruelly treated by several people, whether it’s by factory workers or local thugs, all the way to a finale that is far more depressing than it is bittersweet. The cinematography, by Michal Dymek, is another major contributor of the film’s overall effect, as it not only captures plenty of stunning landscapes and backdrops for this donkey to wander in front of, but it is also unafraid to get seriously strange with its visual ambitions. There are more than a few surreal, almost dreamlike sequences where we’re just zooming through forests, galloping through bat-infested tunnels, and even spending time with a four-legged robot, many of which are captured with a striking red filter that lulls the viewer into an uneasy state, as well as first-person (or, in this case, first-donkey) shots designed to further put us in the hooves of this animal.
While it is often strikingly experimental work by Skolimowski, I’d be lying if there was ever a point during this movie where I was truly engaged with the things happening in front of me. Yes, the donkey is adorable, and it is visually quite stunning in places, but the frequent shifting of focus within its urgent pace made it difficult to really feel as though I was truly there by this animal’s side instead of just watching it and going along with the ride. There’s plenty to admire the movie for, except the lack of a real emotional engagement did prevent me from fully falling in love with it.
Call me basic, but I’d much rather wait for the inevitable fan-edit of this film where someone puts Eddie Murphy’s lines from Shrek over footage of this particular donkey.
SO, TO SUM UP…
EO is a fascinatingly experimental new take on Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar, which features some stunning visuals and a lovable donkey at its centre, but an overly urgent pace makes it hard to become emotionally invested in the brutal fragmented story.
