like dr zhivago, cold war too is a love story stretched to the limit by its when and where. but polish writer-director pawel pawlikowski can streamline drama with such beautiful precision, that we are left with a jewel. a perfect piece of visual music. i agree with reviewer a. a. dowd when he describes the film as “a haunted romantic epic in miniature, like a novel written with the careful, precise economy of a short story. tracking the ups and downs of a tumultuous love affair against seismic shifts in the cultural landscape, it condenses 15 years of plot and history—spread out across four countries situated on the fault line of the 20th century—into a spare, elegant 89 minutes.” his earlier film, ida is equally excellent.