Favourite Czech film/s

[Ctyri koruny]

Nezvaný host. That is an interesting story, Bibax.
Sounds like it has the moral. Though things look bad, they could be worse.

I'm not sure that that is what being implied because the uninvited guest is supposed to be the Soviets occupying Czechoslovakia, which is why the director wasn't able to work afterwards. A very good film and if anyone finds it on Youtube, feel free to let us know!

And the couple making love must have been the Prauge Spring, that was about as subtle as a shovel in the face! Then again none of the symbolism dawned on me till I saw the sentence about him not working again for 20 years.

It reminds me of The Trial as well, the way K. Just wakes up one morning and two men tell him to get dressed because he's under arrest. It's that intrusion.. that sense of shock and disbelief.. not knowing what's happening but this vague sense (of the reader if not K himself) that nothings going to be the same again.
Everything in your home looks the same, but there's this presence, something that wasn't there yesterday, hanging over your head.



Anyway I have Hrubeš a Mareš jsou kamarádi do deště on DVD.. and no subtitles and no idea what going on. Karel Gott is in it. That's good. I think I mentioned before I can understand translations of Hollywood films into Czech without subtitles but something original? Not a chance! not yet anyway.

[Ctyri koruny]

Some very wonderful person has uploaded many Czech films to youtube with English subtitles (you have to click the arrow on the bottom right of the video)
Chop chop! They will be deleted for copyright violations eventually.

It looks like I'm not going to get a chance to go shopping today after all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDg9WwcFvKA

Spalovač mrtvol.. It was on Czech 2 Last year and how sad I was not to understand a word. Very happy to be able to watch it now!

I think Skřivánci na niti is my new favorite film of all time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HrR2uzR5l4&

[BaronPrasil]

I agree that Skřivánci na niti (Larks on a String) may be one of the greatest movies ever. It at least has to be in the "greatest ever" discussion. It takes on a heavy topic (problems with the implementation of socialism in the 1950s), and uses A LOT of humor, but even with all the laughs, it doesn't lose touch with the true seriousness of the issues being raised, and doesn't become a wacky spoof. That's a difficult line to walk in film making.

Some other favorites include:

Musíme si pomáhat (Divided We Fall) - another serious, but funny, movie. I wrote an essay on this for a cinema class final exam
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0234288/

Happy End - brilliant, starts with "Konec" (The End) and goes backwards
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061029/

Kočár do vidně (Carriage to Vienna) - Iva Janžurova shows her greatness by carrying the movie while saying almost nothing
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060597/

Ovoce stromů rajských jíme (We Eat the Fruit of the Trees of Paradise) - one of the most bizarre movies ever, but a great work of art
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064781/

Až přijde kocour (When the Cat Comes) - a cat wears sunglasses, and when they are removed, the true nature of anyone that the cat looks at is exposed for all to see
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056844/

I could go on and on, but instead I will end with a link to my list of great Czech(oslovak) movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls009351492/