Written and directed by Ewa Wikiel, co-written by Halina Rasinski, while driving on a highway, Lena sees a burning car and hears a scream. Compelled to find out who the deceased woman was, she slowly loses herself in the unravelling mystery. Trapped between an unresolved past and a future that’s not her own, Lena must rediscover who she is before she disappears completely. Starring: Gina Henkel, Anton Weil, Paweł Deląg, Wiktoria Gorodecka, Natalia Mateo, Marek Pyś and Katharina Bellena.
Krzyk: Losing Control is built upon a very strong foundation, it’s not often that films explore with any real depth, the impact of witnessing a horrific event. It’s typically those involved in incidents or related to those who are, not simple bystanders. Most likely because the trauma caused by witnessing a violent event where you have no connection whatsoever to anyone involved, is underestimated. So, it comes with surprise and intrigue that Ewa Wikiel and Halina Rasinski chose to explore how it can fracture someone’s psyche.
It opens up with an unusual note, it’s hard to get a read on what it’s going for, creating a hint of mystery and enigma that works really well. You can strongly feel Lena’s (Gina Henkel) grip on reality weakening, you can so clearly see how that traumatic experience is burying into her psyche, both while awake and asleep. It establishes itself very well, the problem is after that, it quickly goes off the rails.
What follows is a somewhat confused and convoluted journey that favours being artistic over substantive. It attempts to capture the unpredictability of grief, and while it’s shot with a great intensity and thoughtfulness, the plot can’t keep up. Wikiel’s direction is hitting the right notes to take Krzyk: Losing Control where it needed to go but the writing isn’t doing its part to hold onto the emotional, relatable foundation. It’s a shame as you can see the intentions, and there’s a great vein of losing your identity within grief but the way that the latter half moves, undermines its sincerity.
The intensity is something that Gina Henkel matches well, she really throws herself into this performance. It has its moments of being physical, on top of being emotionally wrought and Henkel really meets the challenge. There was an excellent opportunity to give her space to flesh out this character and give her a more full circle arc but unfortunately, it falls short.
Krzyk: Losing Control had the best of intentions, and touches upon some excellent themes of trauma, grief and identity but the execution feels convoluted. It’s shot very well, and features a great performance from Gina Henkel, it had a lot of potential for a complex, emotional journey but gets lost in its creativity. Trying to explore the issues in an artistic manner unfortunately creates a disjointed nature between the writing and direction, leading to a disappointing experience.
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