EO

EO (2022)  

Dir. Jerzy Skolimowski

95/100

The sweetness of Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO is a welcome piece of comfort cinema in a time where films will entertain, but their connection to the viewer is less than desirable. Skolimowski pulls an Uno reverse card and focuses on the viewers connection with the titular donkey. The introduction to EO feels like a introduction to a superhero, its a sequence that is only heightened by the stylized strobing lights and stark angles that allow for imagery that hangs over your head, and when its revealed what’s going on it’s not surprising, but nonetheless disheartening to see this donkey trapped by humans for entertainment. The journey that Skolimowski puts this animal on is one based on the reality of life, you can be free, but it requires courage, a feeling that EO searches for, and without the ability to communicate through words Skolimowski has to find new ways of conveying emotion to the audience. His way in is through EO’s eyes, and each closeup on the eyes allow for an brief window into the animal, and through that allows cinematography that is flat out lovely to watch, its filmed much like a documentary but that allows for a personal nature to the way the camera moves throughout the film. It’s a film that can’t be for everyone, there is not a way to make a film like this universal, but if you can get on Skolimowski’s wavelength, you’re in for a good time.