Wednesday, November 15, 2006

 

Insomniac Theater

Watched an old Czech movie, The Loves of a Blonde, made by Milos Foreman in 1965, on IFC last night, the first time I have seen it beginning to end. It was OK, pretty funny (but not as funny as The Fireman's Ball which Foreman made two years later). In black and white, it often looked like a modern American indy film (it had that sort of pacing and scope as well) except for the people speaking Czech. It definitely went downhill when the action, such as it was, moved to Prague. Still, it sticks with you and it's not so much sad as merely and subtly human.

This was one of the films which helped make the brief Czech movie renaissance before the brutal Soviet crackdown in August, 1968. (The best of the lot is Closely Watched Trains, which makes the top 5 movies of all time list).

Comments:
Sorry I missed this post. The fireman's ball is fantastic. I watch it about once a year on television. I'd love to see it with subtitles sometime to see how well the jokes translate.

Czech movies lately that are very good

Samotáři (Loners)
Palíšky (Cozy Dens)
Šílení (Lunacy)
Štěstí (Something Like Happiness)
Pupendo
Skřítek

No translations on the last two.

It is really weird, I remember you asking me about Czech directors a long time ago and I never got back to you. Last night I was thinking to myself, "I should recommend some films to Roger."

Very strange.
 
It's the elusive psychic connection. Thanks for the list, but it could be hard to find these. Thanks again.
 
Rog,

B/c I ignore a steady stream of Chinese movies @ home, I suggest you join NetFlix [sic] which does have a substantial foreign film library. Anyway, I will check on the availability of these films when I get home.

Cheers,

T
 
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