"Mr Kleks in Space", part II, dir. Krzysztof Gradowski
The final instalment in the adventures of Mr Kleks, who has captured the imaginations of countless Polish children. But this film has little in common with the original book, published right after the Second World War. This space-rock-opera still thrills today with its retro-futuristic world, based on a true fascination with western computerisation.
The eclectic music and soundtrack were created by the Polish Radio Experimental Studio. The electronic sound effects “were important to the film’s creators, as the series was a response to the American wave of new adventure films based on modern technologies, championed by the likes of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Budget restrictions held back the Poles in visual terms, but the sounds of the robots and computers or the outer space flight controls created by Bohdan Mazurek developed throughout the sequels.”*
The film is a remarkable example of the fantasies and dreams of the pre-transformation era, and the symbolic fetishes of the free market. As seen from a modern perspective, it even contemplates the climate crisis – Mr Kleks hides in the Last Nature Reserve, and plankton has become the universal food source on planet Earth. This Polish–Czechoslovak co-production is one of Polish cinema’s few sci-fi blockbusters.
The film will be available online at Ninateka for 48 hours, between October 19, 8.00 pm and October 21, 7.59 pm.
*source: CULTURE.PL
