The Dancing Hawk — The Dancing Hawk( Blu Ray)
The Dancing Hawk is a Polish rags-to-riches drama, told in a surreal, arty, and at times troubling manner. The film utilises some wonderful unbalancing/creative camera work, a general keen sense of unpredictability, and a distinctly skewed take on storytelling. It follows the life of a country boy, who works his way up the corporate ladder- trying to keep connected with his roots, but also focusing on what’s best for him. Here from Radiance Films is a new Blu-ray release of the film. It takes in a 4k scan of the picture, a new interview, and a selection of a few shorts by the director
The Dancing Hawk ( aka Tanczacy Jastrzab) is from the year 1977. The film moves from rural grit ‘n’ grain, to offices ‘n’ long corridors of the corporate world. It was directed by Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland-born Grzegorz Królikiewicz. He had eighteen features and thirty-four shorts/ TV movies to his name. His features include bleak & unbalancing true crime drama Though And Though( 1973), grotesque thriller drama Killing Aunt (1985), and ecological horror/ drama Drzewa (1996). Radiance reissued Królikiewicz debut film, Though And Though, last year( reviewed here), and it was one of my highlights of 2025- so when I saw they were releasing this, I just had to see it.
The Dancing Hawk runs at one hour and thirty-eight minutes, but just Through and Through Królikiewicz crams a lot of imagery in. Yes, the films rapidly cut feel does ease off as we get deeper in, but there are still moments of wonderful, skewed camera work, shifts in tone, and moments of surprise.
The film focuses on the life of Michal Toporny- following all the way from his birth to death(I think). It opens with quite a horror-like tone, bringing to mind a more surreal/ skewed take on Texas Chain Saw Massacre- as the camera lies on its back, as a male figure strides into a barn, to press an axe against the face of a young pregnant woman.
In the first twenty or so minutes of the film, we get a dizzying rush of imagery- going from close-ups of milky breasts, dust blowing off stone, work worn hands and pencil written paper, the camera strapped onto both a crude cart and the head of a cow in the middle of a storm, worms wiggling out of fruit in sunset, digging of earth, and most troubling the hacking off/ then carrying off of a human arm.
As Michal grows up into a thin-haired adult, Franciszek Trzeciak takes on the role of the character, following through to his sixties, looking largely believable in said ageing. In his adult years, he has two children, sending one of them away to boarding school. He goes through his higher education and steadily climbs the corporate ladder in a big firm. But he makes controversial decisions, like cutting down an ancient forest, and one of his other decisions leaves a man dead.
As I mentioned, as the film progresses, the more rapid & surreal edges start to lessen- though the creative camera work still appears- like shooting from the side of someone's head/ though their ear, sudden shifts to upside down, and slow pendulum-like sweeps.
The Dancing Hawk is most certainly a film you have to watch several times to full captured/ understand what’s going on, as well as the subtle nods back towards earlier scenes. I’d say if you like your drama challenging, at times troubling & head spinning it’s well worth a look.
This region free blu ray features a 4K restoration by Filmoteka Narodowa. This look crystal clear- with great audio throughout, balancing the dialogue, score, and jarring noise textures very well- for a wonderful visual/ audio experience.
On the extras side we have a interview with critic Carmen Gray(16.23). She starts by talking about how all of Królikiewicz work sits in the cinema of moral anxiety. Touching how the film to hand was crucially well received, but was rather lost on audiences. She compares it to Citizen Kane, but from a socialist angle. We find out it was based on a novel by Julian Kawalec- but giving it a very woozy/ grotesque tilt. She discusses the use of discordant sound in the picture, and his use of odd angles. She touches on other pictures on his filmography.
On the archive side we have Two short films by cinematographer Zbigniew Rybczyński: 1974’s Soup ( 8.36) and 1975’s Oh! I Can’t Stop! (10.10).
The finished release comes with a twenty four page inlay booklet. This takes in a good selection of colour stills and cast/ crew listing. And a new eleven page piece about the film entitled The Dancing Hawk: Grzegorz Królikiewicz Plebeian And Multidimensional Citizen Kane.
If you have a penchant for challenging/ troubling film then The Dancing Hawk is must. Great to see this Radiance release, and let’s hope they are plans to release more of Grzegorz Królikiewicz work- as it truly was a distinctive/ creative filmmaker.