“closely watched trains” is an excellent film. i really liked it when i first saw it. very inventive visually, with a great sense of humor.
on the other hand, i haven’t been too impressed with the films of milos forman. “black peter” and “firemans ball” left me cold and uninterested.
i’m waiting eagerly to see ivan passer’s “intimate lighting” though.
I was a bit disappointed with Firemans Ball, with a beauty contest arranged by some dirty old men, though some find it very amusing. Intimate Lighting had an understated charm. Passer’s later American Cutter’s Way has been sitting on my rental list for ages now. 2 i’ve not mentioned, Shop on the Main Street and Kolya won the Foreign Film Oscar.
Marketa Lazarova: this is a magnificent film from 1967 set in a dark wintry middle-ages, with an edge of mysticism as well as sex and brutality. It matches up pretty well to Andrei Rublev and The Seventh Seal.
The Hand is a superb short animation about a little guy who finds a huge controlling and dominating hand in his home- with obvious political points but plenty of charm
The Ear is another film about state voyeurism, a couple at a party become increasingly anxious about being bugged
I really like Firemans Ball. I’ve only seen a few Czech films. Second Run imprints mainly. Marketa Lazarova is fantastic and love the weirdness of Valerie and her Week of Wonders.
Yeah, Valerie and her Week of Wonders is great fun and quite beautiful, about a young girl’s surreal fairytale-like adventures, with vampires, monsters and erotic awakening
I shared some of my favorite Czech films here, http://www.theauteurs.com/topics/868/comments?page=2
I could do with seeing more by Menzel, especially other films based on Bohumil Hrabal stories- Hrabal’s Cutting it Short is one of my favourite novels (set in a brewery, very Czech). I’d class Mother Joan of the Angels more as Polish, Dan. I’ll take another look at that national waves thread.
I guess quite a lot of people here will be familiar with Jan Svankmajer’s stop-motion (and sometimes live action) animations; an obvious influence on the Quay bros, eg Street of Crocodiles.
>Mother Joan of the Angels more as Polish,
Ah, maybe it’s right!
I also would say I didn’t like at all UCHO. What all those boring dialogues are for? All that just for a political meaning? Bad memoirs.
does anyone know whats going on with contemporary czech cinema?
The End of August at the Hotel Ozone — An apocalypse film with a band of women among the few survivors.
Brings a few twists to the genre and the production values are good.
The Old Believers — Jana Sevcikova, an arcane topic maybe but it is an interesting look at a religious sect that has preserved a way of life for some time.
The Czech new wave movement of the ’60’s was a period of rebirth for Czech film. One of my favourites is Daisies by Vera Chytilova – which I written about before. Daisies is one of the most visually interesting films from this period. It is a perfect example of the liberating sense of freedom, spontaneity, and black humour of the best Czech films of the time. This seems to be a strain running through all the films from this very creative and inventive period in Czech film. It is in Milos Foreman’s Czech films, like his Loves of a Blonde and The Firemen’s Ball. He brought this black humour, thumbing the nose at authority and stuffiness to his American projects such as: Taking Off, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and his brilliant Amadeus. The kernel of these later works can definitely be seen in his earlier Czech films. Shop on Main Street is another quite well-known and deserving film from this period. It is a more sombre film, but has the same cold, hard look at the less pleasant side of human nature typical of the films of this period.
All of this is captured in spades in Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains. This is a film I can watch again and again to discover a new nuance. Each scene is very carefully shot and rendered, down to the pictures on the walls. You really get a feel for the small village and people who work or use the station. It is a world in microcosm: filled with great humanity, absurdity, sexuality (very cleverly caught in one of the most original and startling sex scenes in film, when the train dispatcher ‘stamps’ his girlfriend’s bare buttocks), and very dark humour. The end always blows me away – sad and funny at the same time. It is one of the immortal masterpieces of cinematic art.
For a more recent effort, I would recommend Kolya (1996) by Jan Sverak. It has all the same qualities of humanity and humour as found in the earlier Czech works. It tells the tale of a down on his luck older cellist getting stuck looking after a 5 year old oy.
Oops, how did i miss out Daisies (which we discussed elsewhere not long back)? Certainly worth seeing for the reasons Bob’s given. Good comments Bob
I really love Damjan Kozole’s Spare Parts (Rezervni deli). Great stuff.
Anyone seen Czech Dreams (Cesky Sen)? ‘Tis wonderful, I’d highly recommend it. Two film students set themselves to task making and marketing a fake “hypermart” to see how many people actually come… and a lot do. Hilarious and a great look at how commercialism has gotten itself into countries still recovering from a change away from socialism.
And I love Czech animators like Jan Svankmajer and Jiri Barta.
—PolarisDiB
On Fireman’s Ball, I saw it for the first time not long after spending a year in the Soviet Union (1970-71) as a student; it totally floored me – especially the shot near the end of the old man sitting on the chair while his house burns down and the fire brigade is incapable of putting it out. A very powerful satire of corrupt, totalitarian communism, obvious after having just lived there. That’s one of those shots I’ll never forget. I’ve seen it again, more recently, and it doesn’t have the same impact – I think it’s very much of its time, and of its place. Forman had to get out of Czechoslovakia after making it, it was too dangerous for him to stay there. Of his films made in Czechoslovakia (I’ve seen them all, even his student effort, Audition) I like Loves of a Blonde the most; but Taking Off is my favourite of his.
I try to see as many Czech films as I can. One I really enjoyed in the last couple of years, from the New Wave era, was Cassandra Cat, by Jasny. More recently I’ve really liked Empties, by the same father/son team who did Kolya (which I thought a bit on the sentimental side).
The Fifth Horseman is Fear is also a very thoughtful Holocaust era film. The focus of the film is the moral and psychological quandary the main character finds himself in, and it is contrasted to the way the other occupants of the building he lives in cope with life under the Nazis. It is much more detached and analytical than Shop on Main Street.
Daisies by Vera Chytilova is phenomenal… completely inspiring and the reason why I got into researching Czech Film…
Czech Dream was two parts disturbing, three parts hysterical. To see how the shackles of communism are so easily replaced with the shackles of the most virulent consumerism…And I love how the experiment almost unintentionally becomes a commentary on the advertising campaign pushing Czechs to join the European Union.
I still hate the media here in the United States, but at least, after decades of being blasted with commercials, we’ve adapted to the point that we can take things with a grain of salt. Geez.
Well, i’ve finally got to see Diamonds of the Night by Nemec on youtube. Without subtitles, but that’s not very important as there’s very little dialogue. It’s about 2 Jewish lads- i’d wondered if one was a romany- (late teens/young men), in WW2 running for their lives after making their escape on the way to a concentration camp. We run with them into and through a forest and we share their tiredness, hunger and anxiety. This is impressive film-making. From apparent flashbacks the narrative becomes increasingly fractured and reality becomes less certain, mingled with thoughts, actions not carried out, and surreal elements. This uncertainty and confusing strangeness won’t suit all viewers but adds an extra dimension to the experience annd sense of pyschological discomfort. Much admired by the great critic Ray Durgnat and one that should repay further viewings. I expect to see more by Nemec soon…
Just seen another Czechoslovakian short on youtube, uploaded by the the same fine person, from portmanteau film Pearls of the Deep (1966)- section entitled Romance by Jires, best known for Valerie and her Week of Wonders. About a romance between a young guy and a romany girl, this is a real find!
Agree about that Nemec! Have you noticed the Bressonian (or Bresson-esque?) influences?
Oh, nice thread. I definitely want to watch more Czech films. I recently watched Daisies and it was amazing. Of course, I second everyone’s love of Closely Watched Trains. But I’m a little surprised, no fans of Shop on Main Street? It’s one of the most brilliant cinematic meditations on how when push comes to shove, decent folks can facilitate the greatest of evils.
Following the Czech success in the world cup so far, and presumably some new interest and discoveries, i thought i’d bump this up
Every Czech film I’ve seen in the AWC so far has been outstanding.
Ucho/The Ear
Neco z Alenky/Alice
Postava k podpirani/ Josef Kilian
Marketa Lazarova
Diamonds of the Night
Valerie and her Week of Wonders
Where has this thread been?
Fireman’s Ball: one of the greatest pieces of film making – Oh the humanity
Loves of a Blonde the deleted scene: how many times has that happened to you?
Closely Watched Trains: ending was a total disappointment
Vera Chytilova: thnx, added Daisies to the queue
First off, Czech New Wave! Closely Observed Trains and Daisies both have a place in my all-time favourites, although that list is rather long… I have to give the crown to Marketa Lazarová though… I think it’s my favourite Czech film. František Vláčil is quite something. I recently watched Valley of the Bees for the AWC and was amazed by that as well. Martin, the team manager for the Czech Republic in the AWC did a great job with his selections! Like people have mentioned this before me, Jan Němec’s Diamonds of the Night was a great discovery as well.
Jan Švankmajer as always, is very entertaining and interesting. I particularly like Dimensions of Dialogue. He has a short The Pit, the Pendulum and the Hope, which is based on Poe’s short story The Pit and the Pendulum. I’m interested in seeing his rendition of Faust actually. It’s bound to be wacky.
Speaking of Czech films, I just borrowed All My Good Countrymen from the library, directed by Vojtěch Jasný (1969). Has anyone seen that? Hopefully I like it…
I agree on Marketa Lazarova being the supreme Czech masterpiece i’ve seen, Valley of the Bees, another world cup medieval film, is fine but a notch below. Holubice/White Dove is another Vlacil film worth seeing. I fancy seeing Jakubisko films Birds, Orphans and Fools, and The Deserter and the Nomads. That Czech new wave of the 60s was something special, too often overshadowed by the French
Marketa Lazarova was just a visual masterwork, endlessly impressive. Diamonds of the Night I watched without subtitles available, and the film’s impact was not diminished at all.
Some of my favorite surreal movies are from former Československo:
Vtackovia, siroty a blazni/Birds, Orphans and Fools (Juraj Jakubisko)
Valerie a týden divu/Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Jaromil Jires)
Sedmikrásky/Daisies (Vera Chytilová)
Az prijde kocour/The Cassandra Cat (Vojtech Jasný)
Kenji
Here’s a combination of countries, once one, that seems unfairly neglected on the site. The Czechoslovakian New Wave of the 60s was one of the great national flourishings. What i like is the thread of quirky mischieveous surrealism running through many of the best films and directors’ work- seems to me a bit less grim and weighty than Hungary’s (which i also admire), but that may be a superficial ignorant impression. And with Karel Zeman, Jiri Trnka and Jan Svankmajer, there’s a very strong tradition of animation too. There’s also light eroticism going back at least to Machaty’s Erotikon and Exstase.
My favourites:
Marketa Lazarova (Vlacil)
Closely Observed Trains (Menzel)
The Hand (Trnka)
Valerie and her Week of Wonders (Jires)
The Ear (Katyna)
The Party and the Guests (Nemec)
Thousand and One Nights (Zeman)
Conspirators of Pleasure (Svankmajer)
The Cremator (Herz)
A Blonde in Love (Firman)
i’ll say more about some of these but wanted the thread up and running first.
notable films not seen: Birds Orphans and Fools, Diamonds of the Night, Buttoners