Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Run-of-the-mill romance; language, drugs, sex.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Into the Wind
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
Ania (Sonia Mieteilica) has been through a lot by the time we meet her in INTO THE WIND. Around 18, she's reluctantly preparing to leave Poland to attend medical school in London. She seems subdued and antisocial on vacation with her overprotective doctor father Andrzej (Marcin Perchuc) and stepmother Patrycja (Agnieszka Zulewska). Mom died five years back, and Ania had been in and out of debilitating depression. Everyone now is weary of tiptoeing around her. Her controlling but loving dad has also persuaded her to give up music and go to med school. She's ready to break out and fall in love with the tousled Michal (Jakub Sasak), a charismatic windsurfing instructor at their luxury resort. The two make love on the beach, and Dad eventually is happy that Ania's in love. But will she throw out a medical career for a vagabond windsurfer?
Is It Any Good?
This story of young love has been told a thousand times before, better and more skillfully, but Into the Wind isn't unpleasant. It's a bit long, and its quiet progress can be downright boring at times, to the degree that if you're also working on a crossword puzzle, leafing through a novel, or doing homework and occasionally look up at the movie, chances are you won't have missed anything. Even when someone is injured, the filmmakers extract no drama from the development. A guy gets hurt and then he's fine, no biggie.
The saving grace is Sonia Mieteilica as Ania, with her dreamy warmth and star quality. If she ever gets a great script, she might break out into greatness herself. In all, this is a movie that never needed to exist, but its existence doesn't hurt anyone.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how movies about the problems of privileged people can be best presented. Do Ania and her troubles seem universal enough to carry a movie? Why, or why not?
Why do you think Ania seems detached? Does the movie explain it?
What problems do you think a controlling or overprotective parent can cause? How should teens deal with that issue?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : February 10, 2022
- Cast : Jakub Sasak , Sonia Mieteilica , Marcin Perchuc , Agnieszka Zulewska
- Director : Kristoffer Rus
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Romance
- Run time : 107 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : February 23, 2022
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