This beautiful black and white movie is not for the impatient, although there's a big surprise in the third act. A lovely young nun-to-be in 1962 Poland meets her only living relative and discovers she's the Jewish child of Holocaust victims. Agata Trzebuchowska, in the title role of Ida (EE-da, but her Catholic name is Anna), had never acted before, but that's okay because she has few lines, and they're in Polish. Agata Kulesza has won three awards so far as the worldly aunt who takes Ida on a road trip to show her her roots. Along the way they meet a jazz saxophonist who plays Coltrane (one of my favorites, Naima, and Equinox are on the soundtrack, along with many other tunes).
Director/co-writer Pawel Pawlikowski (I loved Summer of Love (2004), in English, which starred a young Emily Blunt, but haven't seen any of his other works) keeps the pace slow and steady, all the better to reflect on the cinematography by Lukasz Zal.
Relax and enjoy it, as did 90% of Rotten Tomatoes critics and 84% of its audiences.
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