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Into the Wind 2022 Movie Review Poster Trailer Online
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it stands to reason that streaming services are rummaging around in their portfolio, looking for romantic movies to serve up to subscribers. With this in mind, this week sees the debut of Into the Wind (aka Pod wiatr) – a Polish romantic drama about kite surfing, that has just splashed down on Netflix.
Directed by Kristoffer Rus, Into the Wind stars Sonia Mietielica and Jakub Sasak. The movie tells the story of a young woman called Ania, who becomes romantically entangled with a kite surfer, while she is on holiday with her family.
In the film, Ania and her family take a break along the coast, to soak up the sun, sea, and sand. They stay in a fancy hotel, contemplate what fun activities await in the days ahead, and prepare themselves for some rest and relaxation.
On the first night of their arrival, Ania meets Michał – a waiter at the hotel. Michał is a charming and handsome young man, and an instant connection forms between the two.
The next day, Ania and Michał meet on the beach, where Ania discovers that in addition to waiting on tables, Michał is also a kite surfing instructor. The two continue to hit it off and their feelings towards one another begin to grow.
But Ania’s interest in Michał begins to sour when she sees him with another woman. Could this be the end of their romance? Is there any hope for the future? And did I manage to stay awake long enough to get to the end of the movie?
In answer to that last question, yes, I did. But if I had fallen asleep before the end of the film, I don’t think it would have been a bad thing.
I’d really like to tell you that if you are looking for a romantic diversion this Valentine’s Day, then Into the Wind is a must-see movie. I’d also like to tell you the film boasts more than love and a bit of kite surfing, and is an incredibly engrossing picture with plenty of punch and pizzazz.
But if I told you these things, I would be lying on both accounts. Into the Wind is not a must-see movie by any stretch of the imagination, nor is it an incredibly engrossing picture.
Into the Wind is a by-the-numbers film, and a complete waste of time. It is uneventful, uninteresting, and unless you get a thrill from a few scenes of kite surfing (hey, I’m not judging), it is incredibly unappealing.
From a story point of view, this is a bland picture. Nothing much happens and there’s no excitement or suspense.
On a technical level, it looks fine, and some shots of the beach, the hotel, blue skies etc, offer some appeal and escapism, but this doesn’t justify the film’s existence. Heck, if I want a bit of sun and sand, I can switch on an episode of Home & Away or I can flick through a holiday brochure.
I don’t even know if holiday brochures are still a thing these days, but I sure would prefer to turn back the pages of a glossy magazine, than spend any more time on this movie. I’d also prefer to do the washing up, take out the bin, or superglue my face to the ceiling.
Movies cost a lot of money, they take time to make, and many productions fall by the wayside, before they ever get to the filming stage. It baffles me how this one got funded and filmed.
As I say, on a technical level it’s fine. But there’s nothing interesting here – so how did anyone look at this script and think it would be worth all the time and effort?
The only remotely interesting thing in this film is a brief subplot involving an older member of the hotel staff, known as Mr. Miron. Miron pops up on a couple of occasions to say something heartfelt to Ania, and these scenes are the only moments of any value in the film.
Whoever invested money in this picture should have suggested the director scrap the script and film two hours of Mr. Miron instead. A reworked version of this film, focusing on an elderly hotel receptionist, who maybe turns his hand to kite surfing, would have been far more exciting – and arguably more memorable.
Netflix have a habit of offering up films that are fine to watch once, but are usually so forgettable that a few months (or weeks) on from that initial viewing, it becomes difficult to remember what the movie was all about. With Into the Wind I could barely remember what was going on whilst I was watching it – my mind simply wanted me to erase all knowledge of the film’s existence.
But hopefully this review will stand as a constant reminder that I did watch this film. It was boring beyond belief, but I watched it, and now neither I, nor you, need ever give it the time of day again.