EO, pronounced phonetically like the bray of a donkey, roars with the expressive power of cinema. When an opportunity for a raucous adventure presents itself, Eo the circus donkey finds both friendly and cruel people on his journey through Poland and Italy. Eo’s soulful gaze acts as a mirror to the peculiarities of humanity and the absurdity of the world at large. The muteness of the main character is reinforced by the magnificent and inventive visuality.
Jerzy Skolimowski, the stylistic chameleon of European cinema, has rebranded himself once more with this film that won an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. The Polish director, who visited the Midnight Sun Film Festival in 1997, has made one of the greatest and most charming films of his long career at 84 years old. Influences and elements from the director’s rich filmography can be seen in the kaleidoscopic odyssey: humorous wackiness, serious drama, and unexplained mysteries of the universe.
The film inevitably brings to mind Robert Bresson’s equally masterful classic Au hasard Balthazar (1966), however, rather than a lazy recycling of old ideas or the swan song of a tired old artist, the film is like the joyful, spirited bray of a donkey, marking the beginning of a new career – EO!
Otto Kylmälä