Absolute gem
rmixtaj
I agree with most of the comments above. This movie is an absolute gem. The CZ communist regime, however harsh and unfriendly towards many artists - including…
I agree with most of the comments above. This movie is an absolute gem. The CZ communist regime, however harsh and unfriendly towards many artists - including Hrabal and Menzel, was quite supportive to the film industry and the film directors had state grants for their work and advisory boards consisting of educated people evaluating every new movie to be made. Also there was no pressure to make the movies commercially successful as you can see now, and that is how communists actually helped to create the Czech Wave of great movies in 60's and later....I just read an interview with Menzel where he talks of this and compares the situation of before 1989 and now....Hrabal certainly was a genius, I remember that even Kundera said that Hrabal was just a talent by god that he was above all Czech writers of his time....cant agree that he is not known in western Europe, I met some people in France who approached me in a street when they saw that I am reading his novel and started to talk of their love for Hrabal. Also some Canadians whom I know here in London mentioned this movie to me several times by themselves, they just could not remember the name, only the characters :))....Cant wait to see the "English King" in the movies, Menzel says that it took him over a year to work on the screenplay and seems to be aware of the magnitude of the work....unfortunately now when Hrabal is dead he cant assist Menzel with the work as he did before...well, we'll see...
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★ 6 / 10
Czech, Czech-er, Czech-est
kurtralske
My god, is this film ever Czech Czech Czech. It's charming, warm-hearted, humble, sensual, and occasionally brutal. Like so many other Czech films, here we see…
My god, is this film ever Czech Czech Czech. It's charming, warm-hearted, humble, sensual, and occasionally brutal. Like so many other Czech films, here we see humans being human, and their ridiculousness is viewed with affection and delight.
As Fellini's "Amacord" captured the Italy of the director's childhood, Menzel's "Postriziny" reminisces about life at a rural Czech brewery in the 1920s. But Menzel's film drifts through daily life with only the most minor of events, and the plot, such as it is, is guided by nothing of consequence at all. This film floats by so lightly that, in comparison, it makes "Amacord" seem as epic as a Hollywood superhero blockbuster.
The wife is lovely. The husband is loving and dutiful. The brother is an annoying clown, but everyone enjoys him. Nothing terribly bad happens.
The film is kind of a marvel of understatement, or disengagement. One can only wonder why everything feels so inconsequential. Was it fear of the censors? Or Menzel's desire to be always charming, at any cost? Or, is Menzel radically humble, bordering on being humble-to-a-fault? Or, is the average movie viewer simply unprepared to take on a film in which the stakes are so low?
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