Pablo
Picasso was so taken with Warsaw in 1948, he painted a very Picasso-like
version the city’s mermaid symbol on a wall in a freshly constructed housing
complex. Alas, the flat residents convinced the Communist Party philistines to
let them paint over it in 1953. Poof, an original Picasso destroyed, except maybe
not. The missing Picasso mural serves as the Macguffin in Marta Karwowska’s Double Trouble, which screens as part of
the 2019 New York International Children’s Film Festival.
Old
people are mean. That seems to be the takeaway from this film, but Julka really
isn’t in a position to judge. She has never been particularly social herself.
She was supposed to visit her mother and father in Canada during her boarding school’s
summer vacation, but she is stuck cooling her heels at her not-so warm and welcoming
Aunt’s Warsaw flat, until her parents can be bothered to arrange her tickets.
Initially,
she doesn’t think much of Olek (and neither do we), but when thieves steal a
set of rare architectural plans from her Aunt’s flat (it was sort of her
fault), he is the only person available and willing to help her recover them.
As they start nosing around, the kids discover the plans in question were for a
now abandoned building that a gang of thieves has been tearing apart looking for
a rather unusual treasure: the missing Picasso mermaid. Although presumed
destroyed, Julka deduces her Aunt’s parents managed to save it, hiding it
someplace in the building now scheduled for demolition.
Unfortunately,
they are now in danger from the desperate gang of matronly biddies that have
been ransacking the joint. To find the treasure, Julka and Olek (with his fuzzball
doggie Meatball) will have to work together, but they are much more inclined to
bicker, like a junior version of Tracy and Hepburn.
Double Trouble is a generally
okay film, but it definitely skews towards a decidedly younger demographic. This
is particularly true of the broad humor and the impossible-to-miss lessons to
learn. Frankly, more mature viewers will be disappointed there is not
considerably more exploration of the Picasso Mermaid’s backstory, because it is
a clever use of some fascinating true-life cultural history.
Hanna
Hryniewicka and Jakub Janota-Bzowski are perfectly fine as the two young
busybodies, but they were clearly guided towards rather broad, unsubtle performances.
That more or less goes for the adults as well. Double Trouble is the sort of film people think of when they hear a
term like “children’s movie,” which is fine. However, NYICFF has a history of
programming more sophisticated selections, such as Room 213, a ghost story produced for and starring kids that happens
to be genuinely scary. Double Trouble cannot
compare with it, but neither can 90% of the gory slashers released via VOD with
little or no fanfare.
Technically,
Double Trouble is quite an
over-achiever. Cinematographer Kacper Fertacz and production designer Julia
Junosza-Szaniawska make it much more atmospheric than it needs or arguably
deserves to be. The older elementary school set should find it diverting, but Double Trouble will not make much
impression on parents when it screens again tonight (3/3) and Saturday the 16th,
as part of this year’s NYICFF.
