Search - Jancio Wodnik on DVD

Bizarre, supernatural, thought provoking, and memorable

Richard J. Brzostek | New England, USA | 01/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Jancio Wodnik" (Johnny Aquarius) is a very unusual and special film. It is bizarre, supernatural, thought provoking, and memorable. The director, Jan Jakub Kolski, is truly showing himself to be one of the most talented directors in contemporary Polish cinema with this one.

Jancio (Franciszek Pieczka) is a man with a special gift. He can heal people by washing their feet. Becoming restless, he leaves his wife at home and ventures out into the world and helps others. But being human, the path he ends up on isn't exactly on par with his miraculous powers.

Besides the great story, the acting was exceptional. Pieczka was fantastic as he totally has the sage look and act down. Boguslaw Linda was also a memorable addition playing the part of someone with stigmata. As you may have noticed with Kolski's other films, his wife Grazyna Blecka-Kolska stars in the film.

"Johnny Aquarius" is a modern-day fairly tale with morals and lessons. It may make you think about life as it brushes on philosophical issues. Days after watching it, some of the clever messages so intricately woven into the story came back to me as I was reminded of them. If you are looking to watch something a little more deep and meaningful, "Johnny Aquarius" may delight you.
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Kolski's most memorable movie

Tomasz Stasinski | Japan | 03/25/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jancio Wodnik was probably one of the best received Kolski's movies both critically and by mass audience who flocked to movie theaters across Poland in 1993 to see this timeless morality tale, attracted by its originality in the visual and narrative and magic realism sprinkled with a Polish flavour and humour.
The story is deceptively simple. Johnny, an old, countryside man finds a miraculous power over water. He leaves his pregnant wife and sets out to carry his 'divine mission' to the bigger world (or just neighboring villages and towns). With his first act of healing being bringing a man back to life, he quickly gains local fame as a saint and favors including those from not so saintly girls. His previous life and wife now seem so unattractive to him that he doesn't even think of coming back home. But then his son is born with a tail - a sure sign of devil at work. Can Johnny heal his own child?
What pushes the movie forward and makes it so memorable is the mystery and ambiguity surrounding Johnny's gift. Does it really come from God as Johnny believes or from other, malevolent powers? Or maybe from the evil that men do?
"