Kingsajz
Encyclopedia
Kingsajz is a 1987 cult
Polish
comedy
fantasy
film directed by very popular director - Juliusz Machulski
. The action takes place in contemporary Poland (late communistic period) and in fictional liliput
kingdom called Szuflandia (Drawerland), hidden deep in the undergrounds of the Quaternary Research Institute. The movie is a strong and evident allegory of a communistic
regime and thus was received very enthusiastically by anti-communist society. Kingsajz in considered to be one of the best Polish comedies and also one of the most important and socially significant pictures of the '80s. It is also noticed as unreachable ever since in Polish cinema example of using an highly oversized props and sets, supervised by production designer Janusz Sosnowski, made to capture a difference of size between liliputs and used by them things from Kingsajz world. Drawerland sets has been bulid in Łódź Studio soundstages as wall-to-wall set-construction. Some scenes were optically enhanced by a matte painting
, made by artists from Barrandov Studios
.
regularely he avoids shrinkink back into liliput size. He becomes a journalist in popular magazine and a boyfriend of attractive model and lives a peaceful life although in Drawerland he is considered traitor and refugee.
His close friend Adaś Happs (Adaś is informal for Adam
) is a scientist that once helped to produce Kingsajz potion, rebelled and escaped too. Hiding in Kingsize he works in his secret laboratory to break the potion formula hoping to be able to manufacture it one day and deliver to all liliputs in Drawerland.
The movie starts when Adaś finally discovers the secret and has to immediately escape from his lab which is being demolished by liliput agents that tracked him down. He manages to contact Olo and tell him everything but before they meet Adaś is being kidnapped right in front of Olo. Before that happens however he puts the vial into a pocket of Ala that unknowingly to Olo was also called there by Adaś.
Olo follows her wanting to get the vial with Kingsajz but Ala doesn't trust him at their first meeting and just shows him empty pocket with a hole in it. She follows him for a while and when they meet at a fashion show in which Olo's girlfriend takes part Ala reveals that she still has a vial and gives it to Olo. It also turns out that she in fact designed the collection.
They both decide to free Adaś from Drawerland when he is being interrogated and tortured. They seek help of two others liliputs that concoct the plan and lead the rescue action but unfortunatedly both die before reaching Drawerland.
When Olo gets there alone and liliput-sized he allows himself to be captured and manages to fool Drawerland's high officials that he is in fact secret agent working on Adaś's case. He gives a name of liliput secret service official that he knew was killed very recently and tells it was his superior and only person that knew about Olo's assignment. Liliputs don't fully believe him but allow him to meet Adaś. Adaś gives him a message with Kingzajz formula encoded into it.
After that Olo manages to escape from Drawerland but the vial with Kingsajz which Adaś gave Ala earlier gets smashed so although he is free, he remains a liliput. Ala manages to decipher Adaś's message and knowing the potion ingredients she tries several times with different proportions but fails each time. When she is all resigned Olo manages to contact telepathically
with Adaś and learns that water which is one of the ingredients must come from a rusty tap in Adaś'a flat.
When Ala goes there and gets water she manages to produce the potion seconds before liliput agents break into her flat to kidnap Olo. The potion works just at the right time for Olo to help the girl and knock down the agents.
Soon Adaś uses telepathy once more to call for help as Drawerland official deciphered his message too, accused him of treason and the rebel scientist is about to be executed. Olo and Ala manages to save him just in time and Olo goes to Drawerland human-sized to get his friend. There he faces three officials that were after him from the beginning. During the fight they give each other shrinking injections and keep fighting liliput-sized until all three officials are defeated.
Movie ends with Olo, Adaś, Ala and her father who also was a liliput traveling in a train. They are all happy and cheerful when they notice that train is in fact a model and through the window they see a giant figure of a boy playing with it. They are all terrified when it turns out that there is something more above Kingsajz.
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
film directed by very popular director - Juliusz Machulski
Juliusz Machulski
Juliusz Machulski is a Polish film director and screenplay writer. Son of noted actor Jan Machulski, Juliusz became notable for his comedies ridiculing the life in communist-ruled Poland of 1970s and 1980s....
. The action takes place in contemporary Poland (late communistic period) and in fictional liliput
Liliput
Liliput may refer to:*LiLiPUT, a Swiss band*Liliput pistol, a tiny 4.25 mm pistol or its cartridge*Liliput , an Austrian company...
kingdom called Szuflandia (Drawerland), hidden deep in the undergrounds of the Quaternary Research Institute. The movie is a strong and evident allegory of a communistic
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
regime and thus was received very enthusiastically by anti-communist society. Kingsajz in considered to be one of the best Polish comedies and also one of the most important and socially significant pictures of the '80s. It is also noticed as unreachable ever since in Polish cinema example of using an highly oversized props and sets, supervised by production designer Janusz Sosnowski, made to capture a difference of size between liliputs and used by them things from Kingsajz world. Drawerland sets has been bulid in Łódź Studio soundstages as wall-to-wall set-construction. Some scenes were optically enhanced by a matte painting
Matte painting
A matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to build or visit. Historically, matte painters and film technicians have used various techniques...
, made by artists from Barrandov Studios
Barrandov Studios
Barrandov Studios is a famous set of film studios in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest film studio in the country and one of the largest in Europe.Several of the movies filmed there won Academy Awards...
.
Title
Name of the film, "Kingsajz", is actually "King Size" with spelling altered so, that it would be pronounced correctly in Polish. Such alteration of spelling of foreign, especially English words is considered amusing in Poland. In the movie Kingsajz is a name of a world of grown men in opposition to the Drawerland where liliputs live, as in Drawedland everything is miniature and mediocre and outside it everything is king size. Also a green potion that allows a liliput to became "big man" for a certain period of time was called Kingsajz.Plot
Olo Jedlina (Olo is informal for Olgierd) was born a liliput and serving Drawerland government he was permitted to visit Kingsajz. However after getting few drops of potion that made him human-sized he decided to stay in Kingsajz for good and drinking human soda drink called Polo-CocktaPolo-Cockta
Polo-Cockta is a Polish Coca-Cola-like drink introduced in the 1970s. Polo-Cockta was introduced as a substitute for the original Coca-Cola, which was unavailable in Polish shops due to limited import from the USA to the Eastern European countries.Polo-Cockta was discontinued during the 1980s, but...
regularely he avoids shrinkink back into liliput size. He becomes a journalist in popular magazine and a boyfriend of attractive model and lives a peaceful life although in Drawerland he is considered traitor and refugee.
His close friend Adaś Happs (Adaś is informal for Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
) is a scientist that once helped to produce Kingsajz potion, rebelled and escaped too. Hiding in Kingsize he works in his secret laboratory to break the potion formula hoping to be able to manufacture it one day and deliver to all liliputs in Drawerland.
The movie starts when Adaś finally discovers the secret and has to immediately escape from his lab which is being demolished by liliput agents that tracked him down. He manages to contact Olo and tell him everything but before they meet Adaś is being kidnapped right in front of Olo. Before that happens however he puts the vial into a pocket of Ala that unknowingly to Olo was also called there by Adaś.
Olo follows her wanting to get the vial with Kingsajz but Ala doesn't trust him at their first meeting and just shows him empty pocket with a hole in it. She follows him for a while and when they meet at a fashion show in which Olo's girlfriend takes part Ala reveals that she still has a vial and gives it to Olo. It also turns out that she in fact designed the collection.
They both decide to free Adaś from Drawerland when he is being interrogated and tortured. They seek help of two others liliputs that concoct the plan and lead the rescue action but unfortunatedly both die before reaching Drawerland.
When Olo gets there alone and liliput-sized he allows himself to be captured and manages to fool Drawerland's high officials that he is in fact secret agent working on Adaś's case. He gives a name of liliput secret service official that he knew was killed very recently and tells it was his superior and only person that knew about Olo's assignment. Liliputs don't fully believe him but allow him to meet Adaś. Adaś gives him a message with Kingzajz formula encoded into it.
After that Olo manages to escape from Drawerland but the vial with Kingsajz which Adaś gave Ala earlier gets smashed so although he is free, he remains a liliput. Ala manages to decipher Adaś's message and knowing the potion ingredients she tries several times with different proportions but fails each time. When she is all resigned Olo manages to contact telepathically
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
with Adaś and learns that water which is one of the ingredients must come from a rusty tap in Adaś'a flat.
When Ala goes there and gets water she manages to produce the potion seconds before liliput agents break into her flat to kidnap Olo. The potion works just at the right time for Olo to help the girl and knock down the agents.
Soon Adaś uses telepathy once more to call for help as Drawerland official deciphered his message too, accused him of treason and the rebel scientist is about to be executed. Olo and Ala manages to save him just in time and Olo goes to Drawerland human-sized to get his friend. There he faces three officials that were after him from the beginning. During the fight they give each other shrinking injections and keep fighting liliput-sized until all three officials are defeated.
Movie ends with Olo, Adaś, Ala and her father who also was a liliput traveling in a train. They are all happy and cheerful when they notice that train is in fact a model and through the window they see a giant figure of a boy playing with it. They are all terrified when it turns out that there is something more above Kingsajz.
Cast
- Jacek ChmielnikJacek ChmielnikJacek Chmielnik was a Polish theater and film actor.-External links:*...
as Olo (Olgierd) Jedlina - Grzegorz Heromiński as Adaś (Adam) Haps
- Katarzyna FiguraKatarzyna FiguraKatarzyna Figura is a Polish actress. She is sometimes billed as "Kasia Figura", as in Prêt-à-Porter , Robert Altman's 1994 film.- Career :...
as Ala - Jerzy StuhrJerzy StuhrJerzy Stuhr is one of the most popular, influential and versatile Polish actors. He also works as a screenwriter, film director and drama professor...
as Kilkujadek, Drawerland's high official - Jan MachulskiJan MachulskiJan Machulski was a Polish theater director, as well as a film and theatrical actor. He appeared in more than 45 film roles and 70 theater roles throughout his career.-Personal life:...
as Kwintek, "specialist" I - Leonard Pietraszak as Kramerko, "specialist" II
- Witold PyrkoszWitold PyrkoszWitold Pyrkosz - Polish actor. He is best known as Lucjan Mostowiak in a very popular Polish serial "M jak miłość", as Pyzdra in "Janosik", as Wichura in "Czterej pancerni i pies" and as Balcerek in "Alternatywy 4"....
as Bombalina, Olo's superior - Maciej Kozłowski as Waś
- Joachim Lamża as Zyl
- Leon Charewicz as Gil
- Bronisław Wrocławski as Pycio
- Olgierd Łukaszewicz as Paragraf
- Marek WalczewskiMarek WalczewskiMarek Walczewski was a Polish actor. He appeared in 55 films and television shows between 1963 and 2004.-Selected filmography:* The Story of Sin * Death of a President...
as Ala's father - Liza Machulska as Ewa
- Halina MachulskaHalina MachulskaHalina Machulska is a Polish theater, film and television actress.Machulska is the widow of theater director and actor, Jan Machulski, who died in 2008. The couple's son is Polish film director, Juliusz Machulski...
as Ewa's mother - Sławomir Kryński as man in fez on the marketplace
- Zdzisław Kuźniar as man in bonnet on the marketplace
- Beata TyszkiewiczBeata TyszkiewiczBeata Maria Helena Tyszkiewiczówna-Kalenicka is a Polish actress.-Biography:Beata Tyszkiewicz is one of Poland’s quintessentially cinematic beauties, having worked exclusively on the big screen...
as woman on the marketplace - Ryszard Kotys as Nosacz, the prisoner
- Jan Paweł Kruk as Muchomor, the prisoner
- Mariusz Saniternik as Małolet, the prisoner
- Wojciech Skibiński as liliput speaker at the gathering