POLAND Weirdness through simplicity Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002) in relation to Władysław Szpilman's book Polanski triumphed at Cannes but has also received critical flak for the lack of engagement in his Holocaust drama. Wojtek Kość argues that this intensely personal film is all the more disquieting for the absence of Polanski's trademark "oddity."

AVANT GARDE Fragmented self in a shattered mirror Martina Kudláček's In the Mirror of Maya Deren (2001) An Austrian documentary charts how a Ukrainian refugee from Kiev's pogroms managed to become the goddess of the New York experimental film scene. Andrei Khrenov takes a look.

The weight of history Kinoeye presents two articles on contemporaneous German films that have different takes on the process of coming to terms with a difficult past. GERMANY Montage, music and memory Remembering Deutschland im Herbst (Germany in Autumn, 1978) Deutschland im Herbst juxtaposes differing narrative styles in order to confront audiences with Germany's crises that stemmed from present-day terrorism and the legacy of the past. Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith looks back at this classic omnibus film. HORROR An adaptation with fangs Werner Herzog's Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (Nosferatu the Vampyre, 1979) Detailing the cultural background, production history, and critical reception of Herzog's Nosferatu remake, Garrett Chaffin-Quiray explains the film's complex relationship to the horror genre while providing insight into the filmmaker's "purposefully austere aspiration to beauty." From the archive Kinoeye articles on the legacy of Europe's Nazi past in film: Germany's secret history: Stefan Ruzowitzky's Anatomie (Anatomy, 2000) A closet full of brutality Volker Schlöndorff's Der Junge Törless (Young Torless, 1966) Dr Franju's "House of Pain" and the political cutting edge of horror Georges Franju's Les Yeux sans visage (Eyes without a Face, 1959) Conspicuous consumption: Ulli Lommel's Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe (Tenderness of the Wolves, 1973) Power, paedophilia, perdition: Agustín Villaronga's Tras el cristal (In a Glass Cage, 1986)

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