Golem is a late 70’s low-budget Sci-fi drama set in a dystopian post-nuclear future, in which a worker is unsure if he’s human or a clone. The Polish film is a decidedly glum, grey and claustrophobic affair, which from time to time is edged with moments of both pitch-black humour and communist satire.  Here from Second Run is a Blu-ray release of the film, featuring a 2k scan of the picture, a new commentary track, and four early short films by the same director.

Golem is from the year 1979, and it was the first feature-length film from Gdansk, Pomorskie, Poland, born Piotr Szulkin.  Between the late 60’s and early 2000’s the writer/ director had nineteen credits to his name, taking in six features and thirteen shorts. His features include after-the-martians- land sci-fi The War of the Worlds: Next Century (1981), sexual awakenings focused drama Femina (1991), and grotesque comedy drama Ubu król (2003).

The film opens with stark yellow text set against a black screen credits, which are played over by a pressing/ vaguely uncomfortable drone. These are intercut by murky/ slightly red-lit footage of two men operating on another man, and a squirming mass of white rats- all putting the viewer in a tense and uneasy state.

As things open up, we’re introduced to our lead Pernat(Marek Walczewski)- a pale, gaunt, and balding man who works alone in his stark & grimy apartment as a metal worker. We first met him being interrogated under a spotlight, regarding the recent fiery death of his doctor neighbour.

The film is a very small-scale/ clearly a very low-budget affair, as it features a few locations-  Pernat’s dilapidated apartment block, and a few other rooms, mainly in a murky/ underground setting.

Over the film's one hour and thirty-two minutes runtime, the decidedly troubled Pernat meets a series of characters- there’s the cloakroom man who gives him the wrong hat & coat, a lairy & unpredictable man who wants his smokes, a brash prostitute from his apartment block, a young woman who works in subterranean greengrocers come children’s doll mending shop,  a unpredictable dentist, and a few other people.

Throughout, Pernat is questioned/doubted whether he’s a real human or a clone, with the film blending a Kafka and Orwell-like take on the future. The whole thing is filmed & set in a blend of greys, yellows, greens and stark half-light. For the most part, the picture plods along, shifting between glum paranoia and uneasy slow-boiling tension, though from time to time we get moments of dark humour and satire.

Walczewski is well realised as our washed-out & doubtful lead, with the small surrounding cast being largely good too. There is quite a stage-like quality to the acting, which works fine with the stripped-back/ sparse locations.

Aside from the main oppressive/paranoid drama focus of the film, we get one or two jarring & alarming moments, like a man hung up side down by one of his legs- with a bloody/ panicked face, banks of windows seemingly closing/ opening on their own, and a incinerated corpse in a large pull our draw.

The region-free Blu-ray features a new 2k scan supervised by director Piotr Szulkin, and the film's sound engineer Nikodem Wolk-Laniewski. This managed to maintain a nice balance between the film's original tone/ mood, and modern clarity/ crispness.  The English subtitles are clear and easy to read.

On the new extras side, we get a commentary track from Polish film expert/ author Michael Brooke, and as we’ve come to expect from this track pro- it’s a wonderfully researched and observed affair. He starts by talking about the front used in the picture credits, which is most known for its use in eight of John Carpenter's films. He talks about the double inspiration for the film- the  Jewish folklore tale, and the 1915 speculative fiction/ horror novel of the same name, with the latter giving more character detail/ depth from the book's descriptions.  We get a bio for bit part actors as they appear, comments on the surreal elements in the film, and a recurring theme of eyesight/ eyes in the film.  He talks about the tarot card used in the film, and its possible meanings.  Later on, he talks about the state of Polish cinema during the film's production, and how it got round to being made. He touches on the drone-based score, the use of yellow/ greenish tones in the film, and much more. All in all, this is an excellent track, which expands/explains the film/ it’s themes/ meaning, as well as giving us some wonderful facts/ information regarding Polish cinema.

Otherwise, on the extras side, we get four early short films from Piotr Szulkin. 1972’s One, Two, Three (7.16), 1972’s Everything ( 6.59), 1973’s A Sketch in six parts (12.58), and 1976’s Copyright film Polski MCMLXXVI(4.12)- for the final film, we annotated script galley.

The release is finished off with a glossy twenty-page inlay booklet- this features essays Michał Oleszczyk and Tomasz Kolankiewicz, a few stills/ behind the scenes photos, and full film credits.

Golem is a distinctly glum, at points darkly humorous take on the dystopian sci-fi form, and an impressive first feature from Piotr Szulkin. Once again, the folks at Second Run do a classy job reissuing the film, with a great new 2k scan, excellent commentary track, and nice selection of early short films.