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Closely Watched Trains (Czechoslovakia, 1966)
Ostře sledované vlaky
After recounting a family history marked by generations of infamous laziness, Milos (Václav Neckár) begins his first day as a station guard at the local train depot with the goal of avoiding all hard work. When Masa (Jitka Scoffin), a pretty conductress, catches his eye, Milos’ intentions turn amorous with the nudging approval of his supervisor, a local lothario in his own right. The Nazi occupation hardly intrudes on this small town coming-of-age story until a fateful, poignant turn gives Milos the chance to become an unintentional hero. Jiří Menzel, who co-wrote the script for his breakout Oscar-winning debut with Bohumil Hrabal, on whose novel it’s based, blends Hrabal’s comic absurdity with his own humanist affinities to equally balance farce and tragedy. Czech pop star Václav Neckár brings a tender, troubled naivety to Milos in his first film role.
DCP, b/w, in Czech and German with English subtitles, 93 min. Director: Jiří Menzel. Screenwriter: Bohumil Hrabal, Jiří Menzel. Cast: Václav Neckár, Josef Somr, Vlastimil Brodský, Vladimír Valenta, Alois Vachek.
Larks on a String (Czechoslovakia, 1969/1990)
Skrivánci na niti
Jiří Menzel began shooting Larks on a String, one of the most overtly political films of his career, in 1968 after the election of reformer Alexander Dubček and the heady, hopeful days of the Prague Spring. The completed film, however, was banned soon after the Soviet invasion of the country in August, effectively ending Menzel’s directing career for the next six years. Set during Stalinist regime of the 1950s, Larks unfolds almost entirely in a junkheap where a disparate group of political prisoners, men and women, toil in the name of re-education. That, of course, is the last thing on their minds as the bourgeois ensemble discuss philosophy and culture, plot to arrange clandestine romantic meetups and forever poking fun at their Communist superintendent. Larks finally received its world premiere in 1990 at the Berlin Film Festival where it won the Golden Bear.
DCP, b/w, 94 min. Director: Jiří Menzel. Cast: Rudolf Hrusínský, Vlastimil Brodský, Václav Neckár, Jitka Zelenohorská, Jaroslav Satoranský.
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