From the ever-growing Polish film scene comes Piotr Domalewski’s sophomore feature project, I Never Cry, a story of a young Polish woman who must make a journey to Ireland in the hope of retrieving the body of her recently deceased father. Domalewski rides on the success of his feature debut Silent Night, which won Best Film at the Polish Eagles, Poland’s equivalent of the Oscars. While Silent Night comically explored the life of a poor Polish family, I Never Cry seems to be more intent on chronicling the coming of age of a woman in European society—from the “Second World” of Poland, to the highly westernized nation of Ireland. For the American viewer, we are provided an opportunity to observe life off the American island, on a continent where another country is a two-hour drive away and one has no choice but to construct their identity across the borders of a global community.
I Never Cry is featured in the 27th annual Ann Arbor Polish Film Festival, hosted virtually from November 6-8 on the Michigan Theater’s Virtual Movie Palace. The festival has historically provided a platform for Polish cinema to gain wider recognition in the Ann Arbor area and, ultimately, the United States.
