
A dark comedy about a murder and its consequences presented in a backwards manner, where death is actually a rebirth. The film starts with an “execution” of the main protagonist and goes back to explore his previous actions and motivations.
Read More »
Tag Archives: Czech
Vrazda po nasem / Murder Czech Style (1967) Jirí Weiss, Rudolf Hrusínský, Kveta Fialová, Václav Voska, Comedy, Crime

The protagonist (Rudolf Hrusinsky) is a dull, fat, shy government clerk indulging in voyuerism and ego fantasies. In love with another clerk (Kveta Fiolova), he is urged on in his pursuit by a commiserate executive. The story is told in a flashback sequence as the cuckolded Hrusinsky attempts suicide by gassing himself in his bathtub. The “Murder” of the title is not a murder as such, rather the murder that Hrusinsky remembers planning upon discovering his wife’s unfaithfulness with his supposed friend and advisor. Both plots failing in his mind, he loses himself in fantastic reveries of his funeral and of hypocritical mourners. ‘ Deciding (perhaps) that this is not the way out either, he gives up the attempt and imagines a life of reconciliation and eventual affluence.
Read More »
Katka (2010) Helena Trestíková, Documentary, Biography, Drama

Helena Trestikova is the author of 10 episodes from the series Women on the Brink of the New Millennium, intimate portraits of both successful women and women on the social periphery. The tragic story of a girl named Katka who believes that joy and happiness can be applied through a hypodermic needle. All she is left with is despair. We first meet Katka at a rehab clinic in Nemcice, still full of optimism and faith in a drug-free future. The film tries to draw attention to the drug problem from a somewhat different point of view.
Read More »
Zabitá nedele / Squandered Sunday (1969) Drahomíra Vihanová, Irena Boleslavská, Vladislav Drazdák, Alexandra Haskovcová, Drama

It’s Sunday morning. The church bells call people to the Mass, but the army officer Arnost is still sleeping in his austere and shabby room in the barracks. He wakes slowly, and attunes himself step by step to the world and what to do this arid Sunday. He loads his pistol and puts it to his head and in his mouth, without firing it off. While he turns around, he is now and then interrupted by short flashbacks in his memory of situations with frivolous women and much drinking, as well as some daydreams about enforced weddings. He has a relationship with three blond women. Two of them are adult. One is willowy and a bit aloof, the other voluptuous and possessive. The third is a little girl, who he likes to talk with. He goes to the gatekeeper of the barracks, and starts a chat. Through a spyglass he suddenly sees two young women sunbathing topless. As it is within the military area, he orders the gatekeeper to arrest them. The women don’t take him seriously, but he writes a report.
Read More »
Vyhnání z ráje / Expulsion from Paradise (2001) Vera Chytilová, Bolek Polívka, Jan Antonín Pitínský, Milan Steindler, Drama, Comedy, Erotic

Philosophical movie, staged at the least philosophical environment imaginable: A closed scenery of a nudist spot, where some hired Czech stuff is making a plain erotic movie for a rich Russian producer. Nothing in this movie is what it seems to be at the first superficial glance.
Read More »
Petrolejové lampy / Oil Lamps (1971) Juraj Herz, Iva Janzurová, Petr Cepek, Marie Rosulková, Drama

In 1900, Stepha, the vivacious 30 year old daughter of a wealthy couple, agrees to marry her cousin Paul, who has accumulated large debts as an Austrian army officer. Paul refuses to work or to consummate the marriage, and then his health steadily declines.
Read More »
Akumulátor 1 / Accumulator 1 (1994) Jan Sverák, Petr Forman, Edita Brychta, Zdenek Sverák, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

In this movie, TV sets are full of life. If a person is in TV (e.g. because it was filmed on the street) it has a double that’s right in the TV set. This double needs energy from the true character to survive. Each time, the real human watches TV, his Double will pull life energy from him. So there’s a mysterious Death-serial. Many persons die in front of their TV set and nobody knows why. Olda, the main character, is one of the persons, that get more and more weak. He is near death, till Fisarek, the natural healer appears.He teaches Olda how he can resist this magic force and how he can fight it.
Read More »
Kocár do Vídne / Carriage to Vienna (1966) Karel Kachyna, Iva Janzurová, Jaromír Hanzlík, Ludek Munzar

A WW2 story of a young Austrian soldier running from the Russian army and a woman whom he forces to come along in order to save his wounded mate.
Read More »
Divá Bára (1949) Vladimír Cech, Vlasta Fialová, Jana Dítetová, Marie Brozová

Tale Bozena Nemcova served as a template for a romantic story about a courageous, self-made girl scorned daughter of a shepherd, who is not afraid of anything – neither night nor swim. But the superstitious villagers about her telling all sorts of strange things, even seeking union with the powers of hell. Bold and courageous Bara stupid prejudices of their fellow men almost suffer. Energetic girl brings her pieces to boil the whole village.
Read More »
Skola otcu / School for Fathers (1957) Ladislav Helge, Karel Höger, Blazena Holisová, Josef Mixa

A new teacher with high standards and a strong sense of duty replaces an easy grader. Once bad grades begin to pile up, a product of his predecessor’s subservience to the system, the new teacher has to stand up for himself and his students.
Read More »