Czech & Slovak Cinema
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- DirectorJaromil JiresStarsJaroslava SchallerováHelena AnýzováPetr KoprivaSurreal tale in which love, fear, sex, and religion merge into one fantastic world. Based on a classical Czech novel of the same title.Watched.
- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsRudolf HrusínskýVlasta ChramostováJana StehnováSet in Central Europe during World War II, a demented cremator believes cremation relieves earthly suffering and sets out to save the world.Watched.
- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsIva JanzurováJosef AbrhámNina DivískováKlara and Viktoria are sisters. Their father dies, leaving most of his property to Klara. When Klara becomes involved with a man that her sister loves, Viktoria begins to plot her murder.Watched.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsKaterina IrmanovováKarel SmyczekVjaceslav IrmanovA poetic film about a dove getting lost on its way to Prague getting shot down by a paralyzed boy. An artist who finds the dove becomes friends with the boy. Together they take care of it bringing it back to recovery.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsLadislav JakimPavla MartinkovaJan VostrcilReality movie of a few days in the life of a Czech teenager when he starts work.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsHana BrejchováVladimír PucholtVladimír MensíkA factory manager in rural Czechoslovakia bargains with the army to send men to the area, to boost the morale of his young female workers, deprived of male company since the local boys have been conscripted. The army sends reservists, mostly married middle-aged men - and the local beauty Andula, spurns those bold enough to try to win her, for the jazz pianist, newly come from Prague to perform. He seduces her and impresses her, telling her "most women are round, like guitars but you are a guitar by Picasso". Staying the night with him causes a lecture on a young woman's honour at her hostel so she throws over her other suitors and makes her way to Prague to find the young man. His protective Mamma and weary Pappa are not pleased when she arrives on the doorstep with her suitcase.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJan VostrcilJosef SebánekJosef ValnohaA volunteer fire department throws a party for their former boss with the whole town invited, but nothing goes as planned.
- DirectorIvan PasserStarsKarel BlazekZdenek BezusekVera KresadlováOne of the most important films of the Czech New Wave 60s, it was ranked among the top ten domestic films of all time. In this original sad comedy set in a small town, two classmates meet each other for the first time in ten years. They are both musicians: one is a member of the regional symphony orchestra, while the other is a local music teacher who performs at funerals.
- DirectorVera ChytilováJaromil JiresJirí MenzelStarsPavla MarsálkováFerdinand KrutaEmil IserleSet against the backdrop of a repressed Czechoslovakia, five non-related vignettes are presented, each showcasing the need and want for human connection. In "Mr. Baltazar's Death", a middle aged couple who are experts at mechanics, travel to a motorcycle race where they congregate with the masses on the section of the course where historically there has been the most action of the destructive kind. In "Imposters", two elderly hospital patients talk about their past professional glories as a journalist and light opera star respectively. Each man wants to hear about the other more than tell his own story for good reason. In "The House of Joy", two national insurance agents believe they have an easy sale when they visit an elderly goat farmer/amateur painter, who uses whatever surface as his canvass, and paints his life and his dreams. But the sale will not be as easy as the men first believe it will be. In "The Restaurant the World", a wedding reception is taking place in one part of a busy self-serve diner. The reception guests are oblivious to the sadness of real life taking place all around their small current vacuum of a world, with the bride determined to make the most of *her* night. And in "Romance", a working class lad, out on the town on his own, is mesmerized by a young Romani girl.
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsVáclav NeckárJosef SomrVlastimil BrodskýAn apprentice train dispatcher at a village station seeks his first sexual encounter and becomes despondent when he is unable to perform.
- DirectorVera ChytilováStarsIvana KarbanováJitka CerhováMarie CeskováAfter realizing that all world is spoiled, Marie and Marie are committed to be spoiled themselves. They rip off older men, feast in lavish meals and do all kinds of mischief. But what is all this leading to?
- DirectorOtakar VávraStarsVladimír SmeralElo RomancikJosef KemrIn the 1600s, an overzealous clergy hauls innocent women in front of tribunals, forces them to confess to imaginary witchery, and engages in brutal torture and persecution of their subjects.
- DirectorVáclav VorlícekStarsLibuse SafránkováPavel TrávnícekCarola BraunbockLife changes dramatically for a Czech housemaid when the family coachman gives her three magical hazelnuts.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerStarsKristýna KohoutováCamilla PowerA surrealistic revision of Alice in Wonderland.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerStarsPetr CepekJan KrausVladimír KudlaAn ordinary man is lured into a strange puppet theatre by a map and finds himself embroiled in a production of the Faustian legend.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerStarsPetr MeisselGabriela WilhelmováBarbora HrzánováSix people unknowingly form a cycle of masturbation as they each cause others to privately indulge in their fetishes.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerStarsVeronika ZilkováJan HartlJaroslava KretschmerováA childless couple passes off an anthropomorphous tree stump as their baby, but things get out of hand when the monstrosity comes to life and demands to be fed.
- DirectorStefan UherStarsMarián BielikJana BelákováOlga SalagováOldrich "Fajolo" Fajták (Marián Bielik), a student who directs quasi-existentialist verbal abuse at his girlfriend Bela Blazejová (Jana Beláková), takes off to a formally volunteer summer work camp at a farm where he meets her grandfather.
- DirectorPavel JurácekStarsLubomír KostelkaKlára JernekováMilena ZahrynowskaLemuel Gulliver (Lubomír Kostelka) has had a car accident and continues his journey across the unknown countryside on foot. On the road he finds a dead rabbit dressed like a man and takes a watch from its waistcoat breast pocket. The half-ruined house that he enters reminds Lemuel of his childhood and brings up a painful memory of a dearly loved girl Markéta who was drowned years ago. Gulliver finds himself in Balnibarbi, a country where he doesn't understand the laws and habits and so continually offends against public decency. It is a day when people are ordered to keep their mouths shut and they force their visitor to follow suit. He faces harsh interrogation and finds it difficult to explain that he is not the rabbit Oscar whose watch has been found in his possession.
- DirectorJan NemecStarsHelena PejskováJana PracharováZdena SkvoreckaA small group of bourgeois guests head for a birthday party of a prominent figure. As they go through the woods and have a picnic, they are suddenly surrounded by a bunch of suspicious strangers.
- DirectorFrantisek VlácilStarsPetr CepekJan KacerVera GalatíkováOndrej, a young boy who loves bees and bats, is introduced to his new mother, a woman much younger than his father. He brings her a basketful of flowers which she starts to throw in the air and then gives out a shriek, as she discovers several bats in the bottom of the bowl. In a rage, Ondrej's father picks the boy up and hurls him against the wall. As the boy lays on the ground paralyzed the father promises the Holy Virgin to dedicate the boy to her if she spares his life. Ondrej survives and is raised in a strict Knightly Order, where he is mentored by a devout monk, Armin. But one day, an extraordinary event makes him doubt the Order and remember where he came from.
- DirectorVera ChytilováStarsEva BosákováVera UzelacováJosef LangmilerTwo stories are simultaneously told. One dutiful mother progressively becomes a frustrated woman who is the only one assuming the family responsibilities of working at home and looking after her only son, whereas her husband works all day, does not appreciate his wife's efforts and the only thing he does by the time he gets home is to read the newspaper and watch soccer matches. On the other hand, a female gymnast prepares for her last competition before her career retirement, but faces pressure from her trainer and a lack of motivation to keep going. The film depicts frustration on both sides, and parallels two worlds dominated by men, where women do not receive any recognition, and in case they do, it is momentary.
- DirectorAntonín MásaStarsPetr CepekTána FischerováMarta KrásováOnce, a young poet (Petr Cepek) has been killed in the Art Nouveau setting of the castle The World. Later, his diary is found and the brief and incoherent notes became the basis for the story of the events preceding the murder.
- DirectorStefan UherStarsFrantisek BubikAlexandr BrezinaKamil MarekA young Polish deserter and gifted organist finds shelter from the fascists in a Slovak Franciscan monastery. He gets into a conflict with the local organist and choir leader, a man limited in his world views and spiritual values.
- DirectorVojtech JasnýStarsJan WerichEmília VásáryováVlastimil BrodskýPeople arrive in a small village with a strange cat wearing glasses. When someone takes them off, he can color people, according to their nature and mood. Adults consider him dangerous; children love him.
- DirectorKarel KachynaStarsJana BrejchováMnislav HofmanGustáv ValachOne day of autumn 1950, during the forced collectivization, the farmers lead their cattle into the common stables of the new cooperative. The cooperative's chairman, Picin, publicly calls out the farmers' names. Only one among the farmers - the rich farmer Konvalinka - opposes the imposed violence in a horrific way, shooting all his cattle and himself committing suicide. The village witnesses the return of Konvalinka's daughter, nicknamed Miss (Jana Brejchová), a former nun whose cloister was closed by the new regime. She is running the remaining property alone, only with the help of the village fool Ambroz (Gustáv Valach).
- DirectorJuraj JakubiskoStarsMikulás LadizinskýJana StehnováAugustín KubánThree war stories ranging from World War I to a post-apocalyptic nuclear holocaust treat death and the fragility of the humankind through different approaches.
- DirectorJuraj JakubiskoStarsPhilippe AvronJirí SýkoraMagda VásáryováThree adolescent war orphans seclude themselves in an anarchic and playful existence of denial and juvenile joy.
- DirectorZbynek BrynychStarsMiroslav MachácekOlga ScheinpflugováZdenka ProcházkováA Jewish doctor in Nazi-occupied Prague risks his life by assisting a gravely injured member of the resistance.
- DirectorJaromil JiresStarsMagda VásáryováViera StrniskováJúlius VasekTowards the end of 1942 a young prisoner Maruska awaits in her cell in prison in Breslau (after war Polish Wroclaw) her execution. After death sentence it was ninety nine days of grace of life that were granted to prisoners by the Nazis, a period during which the prisoners were put to work. Maruska paints the eyes of the plaster tin soldiers by a thin brush and thus she takes the opportunity to put down secretly the fragments of her memories, thoughts and expectations. She hopes she will manage to smuggle these "scraps", as she calls them, to her close friends and family. In retrospect there are returning the girl's experiences.
- DirectorStefan UherStarsMarián BernátJozef GráfEmília DosekováThis is a tragicomic story about boys who even in times of war remember how to play soldiers, dream of heroic deeds, spy on girls, show off in front of friends, and make up fantastic adventures.
- DirectorKyle Patrick AlvarezStarsEzra MillerTye SheridanBilly CrudupIn 1971, twenty-four male students are selected to take on randomly assigned roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison situated in the basement of the Stanford psychology building.