Although Rysopis clearly shows the amateur/clandestine nature of its creation, it provides an outline of Skolimowski's preoccupations; now it seems like a rough draft for the mature works which followed. (p. 35)

[If the plot] provides the general scheme of the film, its development derives from a movement within this scheme: that of the hero towards a moment of decision about his life…. As [Andrzej] moves from encounter to encounter, the familiar pattern of the journey-movie emerges, but the journey also has something of the form of a search: this progression has since become central to Skolimowski's films. In fact, in Rysopis the search aspect is weaker than in the subsequent films: Andrzej never really convinces us he is very likely to stay. But essentially the form is present. Here, as in the other films, the various stages of the journey/search are determined more by impulse than...