- “Mushrooms” is a new film by Paweł Borowski, author of “Zero” and “I'm lying”. It tells the story of an elderly woman (played by Maria Maj) who, while picking mushrooms in the forest, meets a mysterious young couple who ask her for help. This situation leads to absolutely unexpected events.
- The film is nominated in three categories during the 17th edition of the Mastercard OFF CAMERA Festival: Paweł Borowski in the Polish Feature Film Competition, Maria Maj in the Best Female Role category in the Polish Feature Film Competition and Jędrzej Bigosiński in the Rising Star category for best acting debut.
“Mushrooms” by Paweł Borowski it's a film about which you should know as little as possible before watching it, preferably nothing, except maybe the place and time of the screening. You have to be very careful about spoilers in reviews, because this is the type of story where one word can suggest way too much. However, if you are here and reading, I will try to encourage you to go on this journey (and it is really worth it), without revealing its exact course and purpose. The greatest pleasure of “Mushrooms” is trying to solve the puzzle that the creators pose to the viewers.
A lonely, elderly mushroom picker (Maria Maj), a simple woman from the village, is not very satisfied with her harvest (it was too dry and there were no mushrooms) and is about to return home when she notices a strange couple (Jędrzej Bigosiński and Paulina Walendziak) in a forest clearing. Two young people in costumes from another era are such a surprising encounter in the middle of nowhere that he doesn't want to hang out with them. But before she can escape, they spot her and start desperately begging for help. She will protest, but they will be very stubborn, especially the boy. The girl can't move because of her sprained ankle. He doesn't say much, he waits for his partner to organize everything.
During a short acquaintance, the boy presents the old woman with a theoretically credible story. He talks passionately about a lavishly drunk, crazy evening and about friends working in the theater who played a prank on an unconscious person and took him in costumes to the unknown, taking all his personal belongings, wallet and documents. He explains the red stains on his outfit with wine, because it can't be blood. What blood? From where? It's not like he's injured…
The mushroom picker eventually has to give in. She really doesn't have a choice because these two just cling to her. She probably feels sorry for the girl too. And thus begins a tense journey and a game in which it is clear that both sides are hiding something, afraid of something? Are they plotting? Someone has bad intentions. But why? Grandmother? Kids? And why is someone watching these three from deep in the forest?
Paweł Borowski (as director and screenwriter) and his actors have great fun with the viewers. After all, every cinema fan knows that strange people met in the middle of the forest are an obvious harbinger of trouble, bloody slashers or horror films about hateful witches lurking for the souls of innocents. Except this story starts extremely slowly. The first shots may even suggest a contemplative, ecologically conscious, new-horizon cinema, in which every millimeter of the frame and every color matters. Write out: Ming-liang Tsai… The mushroom picker is slowly walking through the forest, putting her modest harvest into her basket. When he sees snares set by poachers, he irritably neutralizes them and throws them aside.
However, when the “cross-dressers” appear, the idyll of the first minutes is replaced by horror, brilliantly enhanced by the producers using camera work and music. This couple is strange. This old lady isn't so angelic either. Is someone following them? The audience's sympathy jumps between both sides of the “conflict” with each subsequent “chapter” of the story. And the closer to the end, the more potential answers appear in the recipient's head.
In the last minutes the mystery is solved. Many things are explained so clearly that it is tempting to meet “Mushrooms” again. This time to take a new look at the characters' behavior, look for nuances, gestures and words that appeared, but due to the unknown – they could be interpreted differently. And when you already know? Then what?
I won't reveal it. No way. I won't write a “spoiler alert” either, because it always appears on the pages when the eye notices one word too many. One thing is certain, “Mushrooms” is an extremely addictive, well-acted, inconspicuous film that cannot be easily put out of your mind. It has many elements that can satisfy fans of horror, slashers, as well as all kinds of dramas and tragedies – for reasons that I deliberately did not mention in this text.
The film “Mushrooms” was included in the Polish Feature Film Competition of the Off Camera Festival.
7/10
“Mushrooms”, dir. Paweł Borowski, Poland 2023.