Actor’s retrospective. We will show movies and TV theatre productions and invite our viewers to participate in a meeting with the actor.

Our guest will be Adam Woronowicz.

The characters played by Adam Woronowicz can be described as ones who – seemingly – wouldn’t hurt a fly. Calm and cool-headed, they don’t force their way forward and rather stay in the background. From the start, however, something makes them stand out. They draw attention and seem to be hiding something. And, indeed, sometimes they are.

Woronowicz’s acting method makes him unique among his expressive colleagues in Poland. A graduate of the Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw (he graduated in 1997), he can convey the emotional charge of his roles through minimal means of expression. In his characters we can see the same people we pass by on the street everyday: inconspicuous, indistinctive, wearing boring clothes and bad haircuts. They are filled to the brim with boiling emotions that will find their outlet when least expected. This does not affect Woronowicz’s acting tone. His face doesn’t frown, his voice doesn’t rise, and the tension in his body doesn’t let up but intensifies instead.

A representative character by Woronowicz  is Adam Kostrzewski, the city president in Sławomir Fabicki’s “Loving” (2012). As a high-ranking official he must keep his emotions at bay. He cannot express his lust for the pregnant Maria Niedzielska (Julia Kijowska). He isn’t pushed to raping the woman by any specific event, and the act itself is merely a manifestation of cowardice and helplessness. The actor’s idea for this character can be used to define his style. The actions of his characters stem from a series of circumstances, and the motivations always turn out to be more complicated than they initially appear. Eventually, the psychological truth always surfaces: man acts on internal impulse. This spark doesn’t always have to come from somebody else.

Woronowicz has already made that clear in Leszek Dawid’s “My Name is Ki” (2011), Borys Lankosz’s “The Reverse” (2009), and Rafał Wieczyński’s “Popiełuszko. Freedom is Within Us” (2009). In the first film, Woroniwcz teased the viewer as the selfless “Miko.” Helping the titular protagonist (Roma Gąsiorowska), he didn’t await anything in return, contrary to our expectations. Where are the limits of kindness? When will the man begin to expect compensation? Woronowicz builds his character in an ambiguous way; even the shortest appearance of “Miko” on-screen evokes the viewer’s suspicion and doubt.

“The Reverse” is not much different. As Józef, who is courting Sabina (Agata Buzek), he gets increasingly drunk on vodka and gives his calculating nature away. Step by step, Woronowicz sensitively reveals his character’s superficiality. With no drastic movements, leaps, or making a spectacle – however, in a completely believable fashion. Once we realise that the emperor has no clothes, it is too late.

The actor has also avoided emotional fireworks in his famous role as Fr. Popiełuszko. Although the cinematic world is filled with action and panic, Woronowicz doesn’t allow himself to get hijacked by them. He builds his character on tranquility. Even though he creates the figure of a man of faith, he does not drift towards mysticism. His Popiełuszko is a modest man of action who has his feet planted firmly on the ground and is aware of the constant danger.

“Gruby” from Marcin Wrona’s “The Christening” (2010) is a reversal of the Popiełuszko character. He is also a man of action, but of a radically different kind: to communicate with his surroundings he utilises threats and his right hook. “Gruby” speaks only on occasion, but always meaningfully. He attacks without warning or batting an eye. The thug’s demeanor seems not much different from that of the priest or an average Pole. They share a similar mechanism: a minimalistic approach to expression. An impenetrable inconspicuousness as well. Perhaps only Adam Woronowicz knows what hides beneath. Maybe the audience of the Two Riversides will discover it, too: in Kazimierz there will be one of the first screenings of “The Red Spider”, a thriller about serial killer directed by Marcin Koszałka, with the hero of our actor’s retrospective in one of the principal roles.

Artur Zaborski

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
2015 Red Spider (Czerwony pająk), Demon, Body (Body/Ciało) | 2014 All About My Parents (Pani z przedszkola), Photographer, The (Fotograf), No Matter How Hard We Tried (Między nami dobrze jest) | 2013 Siberian Exile (Syberiada polska) | 2012 Loving (Miłość) | 2011 Man, Chicks Are Just Different (Baby są jakieś inne), My Name Is Ki (Ki) | 2010 Christening, The (Chrzest), Święty interes | 2009 Reverse, The (Rewers), Janosik: A True Story (Janosik. Prawdziwa historia), Generał Nil, Popieluszko: Freedom Is Within Us (Popiełuszko. Wolność jest w nas) | 2002 Chopin: Desire for Love (Chopin. Pragnienie miłości)

THEATRE CAREER
2014 Druga kobieta | 2012 Nietoperz, Kopenhaga | 2011 Nosferatu, Bracia Karamazow | 2009 Solaris. Raport, Kieszonkowy atlas kobiet | 2006 Miarka za miarkę | 2005 Słomkowy kapelusz | 2003 Historie zakulisowe | 2001 Król Lear | 2000 Ofiara Wilgefortis | 1999 Hamlet | 1998 Słowa Boże, Skóra węża | 1995 Gwałtu, co się dzieje!

TV THEATRE
2015 Amazonia | 2014 Miss HIV | 2012 Bracia Karamazow | 2006 Kolekcja | 2005 Fotoplastikon, Słomkowy kapelusz | 2004 Pamiętnik z Powstania Warszawskiego | 2003 51 minut | 2002 Merylin Mongoł