Red (1994)

9.5 Popcorn boxes

The final installment of the Three Colors Trilogy (the other two, 'Blue' and 'White'), director Krzysztof Kieslowski gives us a strong installment of the series.

Valentine Dussaut (Irene Jacob) while driving destracted, hits and injures a dog.  She tracks down the dog's owner, Joseph Kern (Jean-Louis Trintignant) but he gives the pregnant dog to Valentine.  They begin a platonic relationship, with both learning much about each other, life, and relationships.

It's a complicated plot, but suffice it to say, everything is mainly tied up at the end, bringing to a conclusion all three films of the trilogy.

This was Kieslowski's final film, unfortunately.  He died during open-heart surgery just two years after the film.  We will never know what other masterpieces he had in him.

Rated R for sexual content

White (1994)

9.0 Popcorn boxes

This second in the series Three Colors directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski, White is the story of the oddly named Karol Karol (Zbigniew Zamachowski) who, having been divorced by his wife in France, travels back to Poland in a suitcase, of all things.  He plots revenge on his wife, but has no means to accomplish this task.

He falls in with Mikolaj (Janusz Gajos) who wants to hire him to kill a 'suicide'.  The intended victim is a surprise.  After much development, Karol is able to become wealthy, and finally is in a position to seek revenge on his unfaithful wife.

All of this reads poorly, and makes the film sound uninteresting, and, yes, weird, but believe me, it's rich and replete with great characters, interesting settings, and a sense of justice finally served.

A fine film, but probably the weakest in the trilogy.  Has many amusing scenes.  The one when the suitcase containing Karol ends up in Poland is a classic.

Rated R for some sexual content, language