While it may take a while to fully understand what is being said in Never Gonna Snow Again (Polish: Śniegu już nigdy nie będzie), we can tell from the first mysterious moments that this film is going to be quite an adventure. The story of an enigmatic masseur who travels from rural Ukraine to the wealthy suburbs of Poland, immersing himself in the lives of the hopelessly lost upper-class is one that is bound to stir a lot of discussion, especially in how directors Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert handle some of the more complex commentary that resides at the heart of the film. It’s not easy to make sense of this film, but as we work our way through it, accompanying the main character as he weaves his way through these beautiful but lifeless homes that are occupied by people who are suffering in terms of both physical ailments and psychological despair, we can start to unpack the multitude of themes that are introduced throughout the film. One of the components of a great film is that it tells the viewer so much without ever needing to say much at all – and intentionally leaving large stretches of this narrative vague allows the individual viewer to engage with it from their perspective, applying our own unique understanding of these very common but bewildering themes, which enriches the film and gives it a very distinct atmosphere that the directors utilize exceptionally well. Challenging but never incomprehensible, Never Gonna Snow Again is a meaningful social drama that provokes some deep ideas within the audience, who walk away from this film both rivetted and puzzled, an intentional artistic choice that bolsters the central aims of the film.

Never Gonna Snow Again doesn’t start off being all that original – the story of a mysterious stranger emerging out of the shadows and gradually changing the lives of everyone he encounters if not a new concept, having its roots in very early literature, which seems to have inspired Szumowska and Englert to make this film, which can sometimes we quite impenetrable in its exploration of certain themes. For some, this film is going to be a darkly subversive comedy about the class difference, as seen through the eyes of a quiet outsider immersing himself in the hedonistic world of the upper-class. Others may view it as a harrowing existential odyssey that playfully manipulates reality to tell this haunting story of a man trying to find his way through a world that he can’t even comprehend. Some could even consider Never Gonna Snow Again a work of contemporary magical realism, with the infusion of vaguely surreal elements into this otherwise stark social drama proving to give the film a sense of deeper meaning than what we’d normally expect at a cursory glance. The fact that it is nearly impossible to sort this film into a single coherent category seems to be the entire point – each one of us is going to find ourselves engaging with Never Gonna Snow Again in a radically different way, the directors ensuring that the story makes sense on a narrative level, but accompanying them with a deep sense of ambiguity that allows us to assert our own perspective on what is already quite a perplexing series of stark discussions. Taking many of its cues from the postmodernist movement, which deconstructs conventional narratives in creative ways, this film doesn’t facilitate only one line of thinking, which only makes it a more evocative work of art, since each one of us will have a radically different experience working through this fascinating piece.

At the heart of this film is Alec Utgoff, the talented young actor who plays the character of Zhenia, through whose eyes we see most of the film, and the perspective that guides our own understanding of these characters and their plights. Utgoff is an actor that may be familiar to many viewers, considering he has worked steadily for a few years now – but it’s Never Gonna Snow Again that is likely going to give him the breakthrough he clearly deserves. Zhenia is not an easy character to play – he’s both a passive observer to the lives of these peculiar characters, and the direct catalyst for their eventual epiphanies, his magical touch facilitating their newfound realizations to the more abstract aspects of their surroundings. Utgoff disappears into this character – he has an incredible screen presence, our eyes being drawn to him every time he appears, and he keeps us engaged even when he isn’t saying a single word. It’s a rare skill for an actor to convey so much through doing so little in terms of traditional performance mechanics – but the combination of his presence, which contains an abundance of carefully-curated expressivity (which makes every gesture meaningful), with the film’s process of gradually revealing more about this man as it progresses, makes his performance one of the best of the year, a quiet but striking portrayal of a mysterious stranger who comes from an indeterminate background, and whose actual humanity we begin to question, asking whether he is actually a real person, or just a miraculous conjecture emerging from the ether and entering into the homes of these wayward individuals who are seeking resolution to problems and quandaries they didn’t even know existed.

Never Gonna Snow Again is a film constructed out of some very interesting ideas, the directors using allegory and metaphor throughout their process of telling this story that feels both very traditional and profoundly modern. It becomes something of a contemporary fable, the tale of a mysterious messiah who descends onto a bleak and arid community, bringing with him a very particular set of practical skills that allows him to enter into the lives of these people, and in the process touching their lives in mysterious but incredibly helpful ways. There’s a lyrical component to Never Gonna Snow Again that keeps propelling it forward, a sense of enchantment that lingers over every frame, and complements the story, which is already quite abstract. Szumowska, an established writer and director that has spent several years telling beautiful stories of life in her native Poland, and Englert, a cinematographer making his directorial debut, work in tandem to bring these themes forward and develop them into this deeply complex story of the human condition, filtered through the eyes of a complete outsider. The lack of clear resolution throughout is one of the most distinct qualities of this film – normally we’d be frustrated with any work of literature refusing to provide us with answers to the burning questions asked throughout, but in Never Gonna Snow Again, it becomes an intentional artistic choice, since so much of this story depends on our own interpretation, as well as the very obvious fact that there isn’t a single way to understand our world – existence is not linear nor does it make much sense. Our paths are different, and therefore our understanding of this film, which dives deep into this very issue, depends on how we embrace the various different cues inserted into this film at certain points.

The gradual development of this film into a deeply honest and moving human odyssey, combined with elements of surrealism that give it the sense of the unknown, sets the foundation for a profoundly moving drama that carefully uses humour to tell this story of a mysterious stranger inadvertently changing the lives of his clients, who realize that there is a world beyond their closed-off community, both the literal neighbourhood in which they luxuriate in excess, and their collective mental block against seeing outside of their own perspective. It’s a feat for a film to be both impactful in how it delivers a very resonant message, and still very aloof and elusive in how it unpacks some very intimidating themes, never veering towards the heavy-handed commentary one would expect from such a story. Elegant and beautifully constructed, this film is a marvel to witness – it is very simple in execution, but finds both humour and pathos in the most unexpected situations, which sharply contrast with the deep existential message that persists throughout the film. It’s not always going to be all that successful for some viewers, who may be flummoxed by the strange approach taken to what is supposed to be a very straightforward narrative – but as they tend to say, not everything needs to make sense, and the moment we realize where this film is heading, it’s easy to surrender to its charms, which are only further amplified by the gorgeous depiction of human nature that drives the narrative and makes Never Gonna Snow Again one of the most genuinely affecting dramas of recent years.