Czech new wave

..and why not?
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Goat Boy
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Czech new wave

Postby Goat Boy » 31 Jan 2018, 11:07

Thoughts? Recommendations?
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Re: Czech new wave

Postby pcqgod » 31 Jan 2018, 17:07

'Closely Watched Trains' is the only one I know.
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Re: Czech new wave

Postby Snarfyguy » 31 Jan 2018, 17:46

I really enjoyed the one you just reviewed - even though I'd completely forgotten watching it.

Milos Foreman's The Fireman's Ball is pretty great, but I can barely remember anything about it.

I guess Czech New Wave films go well with DRINKING a lot!
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Re: Czech new wave

Postby naughty boy » 31 Jan 2018, 17:54

It's Czechoslovak, 'cos both countries produced great stuff and Slovakia didn't secede until 1993.

All of Forman's 60s films are great. Černý Petr, Loves of a Blonde and The Fireman's Ball especially (there are at least two short films that precede these).

Ecce Homo Homolka is a classic in a similar vein - light comedy with melancholic tones, featuring some of Forman's actors.

Daisies is a gem.

I wasn't keen on Closely Observed Trains but many say it's one of the best of the genre.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslo ... k_New_Wave
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Re: Czech new wave

Postby Penk! » 31 Jan 2018, 18:30

OCT wrote:I wasn't keen on Closely Observed Trains but many say it's one of the best of the genre.


It was nice, I liked it, though it didn't strike me as a classic if you know what I mean.

Diamonds of the Night by Jan Nemec is a really good one. Shortish with virtually no dialogue, with two teens on the run from the Nazis.

Valley of the Bees by Vlacil was great, a bit Tarkovsky/Bresson, a bit Seventh Seal. I wasn't so keen on Marketa Lazarova even though it gets a lot of "best Czech film ever" blurb.

Dougie, check out the company Second Run. They do really nice world cinema releases and seem to really specialise in Eastern European things from the '60s and '70s. You can get hold of a lot of the Czech guys' things there.
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Re: Czech new wave

Postby algroth » 01 Feb 2018, 10:42

Echo several of the opinions here although to my mind Marketa Lazarova is an absolute masterpiece, if a complicated watch all the same. From Frantisek Vlacil I would perhaps advise The Devil's Trap as a more accessible starting point, also the first into his medieval trilogy, which includes both of these and Valley of the Bees.

Probably my favorite is The Cremator though, that is a very unique horror about a Buddhist cremator's gradual conversion into Nazism during WWII. Also I can eagerly recommend Ucho, and some of Vera Chytilova's later work too which is often ignored in favour of Daisies instead, such as The Jester and the Queen or Fruit of Paradise. Valerie and her Week of Wonders is also a rather brilliant and surreal trip, worth checking out.

And as a relatively lesser-known but quite enjoyable work, I can also recommend The Golden Fern. Anyhow these are some not mentioned so far that I've really enjoyed and can recommend.

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Re: Czech new wave

Postby naughty boy » 01 Feb 2018, 10:59

algroth wrote:Also I can eagerly recommend Ucho


Yes! that one's great. It features Jiřina Bohdalová, who almost exclusively appeared in crappy lowbrow shit (and there's a LOT of it). Seeing her in this is a bit like seeing Barbara Windsor in Wild Strawberries or something.

algroth wrote:Valerie and her Week of Wonders is also a rather brilliant and surreal trip, worth checking out.


Yes to that one too!
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Re: Czech new wave

Postby Goat Boy » 01 Feb 2018, 11:12

That Valerie film sounds up my street
Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.


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Re: Czech new wave

Postby Jumper K » 01 Feb 2018, 18:49

Case for a Rookie Hangman is very good. It was Jurácek’s parting shot on Czech Society. I studied it alongside Bunel’s films as part of surrealism in existential film.

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Re: Czech new wave

Postby naughty boy » 01 Feb 2018, 19:47

algroth wrote:...some of Vera Chytilova's later work too which is often ignored in favour of Daisies instead, such as The Jester and the Queen or Fruit of Paradise


thought you'd have mentioned Panelstory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4sFZzCFzM8&t=2245s

It's the only Chytilová I've seen apart from Daisies. It's worth a watch - a decent satirical comedy which says a lot about Cold War-era Czech life. And you get to see sparsely-stocked supermarkets and smoky pub interiors and brutal urban landscapes - all of which are VERY visually appealing!
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Re: Czech new wave

Postby algroth » 04 Feb 2018, 13:20

OCT wrote:
algroth wrote:...some of Vera Chytilova's later work too which is often ignored in favour of Daisies instead, such as The Jester and the Queen or Fruit of Paradise


thought you'd have mentioned Panelstory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4sFZzCFzM8&t=2245s

It's the only Chytilová I've seen apart from Daisies. It's worth a watch - a decent satirical comedy which says a lot about Cold War-era Czech life. And you get to see sparsely-stocked supermarkets and smoky pub interiors and brutal urban landscapes - all of which are VERY visually appealing!


I haven't seen it yet, is why. :) I got to catch plenty of Chytilova's works in a retrospective a few years back (around the time of her death), but I'm not sure if that was not included, or simply one I could not attend. From what I recall I saw Daisies, Fruit of Paradise, The Apple Game and The Jester and the Queen, all very enjoyable for me.

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Re: Czech new wave

Postby Davey the Fat Boy » 04 Feb 2018, 16:17

I really don’t know this body of work. Need to investigate.
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Re: Czech new wave

Postby naughty boy » 11 Feb 2018, 18:03

Fopp have got The Firemen's Ball DVD/Bluray for £6, Dougie. A nice package with some decent extras. Strongly recommended.
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Re: Czech new wave

Postby joklend » 24 Feb 2018, 16:15

I second 'The Cremator' by Herz. The darkest, driest black satire. If you're familiar with the animations of Jan Svankmajer then you'd definitely notice a similar style of cutting and framing in it, and the two have collaborated on other works.

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Re: Czech new wave

Postby driftin » 01 Mar 2018, 00:05

Another vote for Valerie and Her Week of Wonders here. It's a really strange, dreamlike trip down the rabbit hole and it also has one of the greatest soundtracks to any movie ever.


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