Weiser

Weiser is a 2000 Polish film directed by Wojciech Marczewski. It opens with a childhood flashback of a group of boys and a girl playing with explosive substances, during which one of them, David Weiser, presumably dies or vanishes.Through time leaps, the film focuses on how these almost mythological remembrances of Weiser still have a significant influence on everyone who was there. In present-day, Paweł shows a great longing for the past and tries to find closure by attempting to solve the mystery.

It marked Zbigniew Preisner' last score to a Polish film. In terms of music, Preisner often maintains a level of consistency, often met by various red-wires that virtually all of his projects share to some degree, such as the fragility of characters and the perception of truth through remembrance and overall melancholy and longing for what once was.

Weiser is a score that consists of familiar solo musicians (trumpet, cornet, a soprano, (bass) guitar, keyboards, saxophone and flute), the specific recording method, and fragmented musical phrases that, unlike their presence in numerous other works, dominate this score entirely, with reason regarding the perceivement of truth through memory. There is a minor repetitive theme, mostly presented through interplay of the wind and piano solo, and as it progresses is supplemented by different recurring soloists in each take, either supportive or sometimes presenting their own small variations.

As stated, it is this minimal conceptual idea of fragmented pieces that together provide unique, somber, slow, brooding, emotional, and atmospheric support to the nostalgia and the deeply immersive 'false' emotions of remembrance. In regard to the electronics, their shimmering and phantasmal role is effective in how Weiser is presented as a mythical figure, whose presence is felt from a distance. Preisner addresses the same aspect through Elżbieta Towarnicka' subtle singing, which additionally serves a spiritual and religious role.

The film effectively uses a recurring sound of electric wiring, which serves a similar purpose as the overall music. In the reunion between Paweł and Elka, an industrial sound effect is heard, recapturing a phrase from the already sparse theme of Preisner' music.

Pianist Leszek Możdżer makes a cameo appearance playing music on a keyboard for a ballet performance at a train station. The use of this diegetic source music is another take on the composition A Tune a Day from 10 Easy Pieces for Piano, an album Preisner and Możdżer had released prior to Weiser. Later in the film, the scenery is reprised, but only shorter. In Paweł's current-day life, he restores old classical music recordings, marking yet another interesting role for Możdżer Several diegetic pieces of music, Bach recordings, are all played by Możdżer as the protagonist continues his work on their restoration, interconnected with the electric wire sound.

In assessing its worth, the music by Preisner is profoundly good. In watching the film, the minimal approach carrying numerous reprises of the short theme, the soloists provide additional nuances and a versatility that make it exceptional. However, in content it is a ligher version of everything Kieslowski did before. As an in-context experience, there is time in between what the music accomplishes, and resonates long after the film has ended. On the album, there is an air of saturation regarding use of the dominate, recurring short theme, which unfortunately precludes a gratifying listening experience.



Tracklist
1. Ransacking the Memory 6:11
2. The Appointed 7:58
3. Dark Side of the Soul 5:20
4. Youthful Wanderings 4:29
5. The Choice and the Oath 1:18
6. Levitation 1:46
7. Main Theme 4:02
8. The Tunnel of Oblivion 1:29
9. Life After Life 3:01

Total duration 35:34


(24-05-2025)