NinadeL

After 8 years I finally watched the DVD after many reruns on TV and at the movie theater... and I can definitely say that I love this movie and that it's aging like fine wine. :) There's nothing wrong with it. Period. As an interesting bonus for BBC Narnia fans, Sophie Wilcox appeared as WAAF Jane and that made me very happy too.

A beautiful showcase of the golden nineties in free Czech cinema. It features unusual subject matter, genre games, inspiration from abroad, but also Cimrman-like recession (Svěrák Sr. paired with Kolářová, Smoljak with his proverbs), beautiful women (and their cleavages observed through the playful optics of a very young director) and a memory of a time when it was possible to believe in anything. Some of the pop culture references may have faded a bit, but others are still pleasing years later. However, the love for the medium of film is clearly audible, with the best gags being the captions. And that’s not even mentioning the work with the main motifs from "Nabucco."

Věra Chytilová should finish studying to whom she gave her last opportunity in front of the film camera. The lady from Brno who played the grandmother with grandchildren in the second half (after the housekeeper Chytilová in the first half) was Marie Pavlíková, the first Czech aviator.

The gravediggers know what’s fun, but they've overdone it. When the film is put on ice for a while and comes back in about ten years, then maybe. I'll even forget about any of my distaste for school movies in general.

Crime in the Night Club is a classic 1960s hodgepodge. Under the influence of a certain mood, the Škvorecký / Menzel authorial team, the Suchý / Šlitr authorial-interpretive team, performers Grossmann / Smoljak / Svěrák, and Pilarová singing (plus a number of other disparate faces of the time) all came together on one film. According to Menzel, it was supposed to be another crime film written by Škvorecký, this time in a retro version in the style of Martin Frič. On paper, the idea remained halfway between the Lieutenant Borůvka films, which never became a trilogy. Well, that didn't work. Regardless Suchý was grateful for having another film for the people. The withdrawal from movie theaters was primarily due to Škvorecký's emigration, and some people would like to believe that this failed crime drama could perhaps be considered provocative. However, not everything from the golden sixties has to be considered genius.

I’m also a bookseller, so I know what I'm talking about when I say I get it.

An all-encompassing magnificent visual experience. It captivated me, sat me down, and slackened my jaw. I'm probably going to watch all the biopics about classic painters. :) Or I'll stay grounded, thank the ever-improving Colin Firth, move on to another overrated Scarlett Johansson performance, and enjoy one of the many child roles of the now-discovered Anna Popplewell. That's how I like it. Later, I’ll grab a Tracy Chevalier novel, which is written in the first person and is therefore a deeply visceral experience.

A stupid romantic German two-part film.... at first glance. At second glance, however, it's a piquancy for connoisseurs of the Czech crime series Specialisté na vraždy because the three distinctive faces of the series (Hans Werner Meyer, Gudrun Landgrebe and Barbara M. Ahren) appear in this series in completely contrasting and endearing roles.

The backstage remakes bother me. Even if Frič, bred by Lamač, was in a way entitled to a remake. But Nataša couldn't act better than Anny Ondra even if she tore herself apart. Some people are good, some are not. Those who don't know what I'm talking about should watch the original from 1933.

After Adina Mandlová showed the entire tower block the nice things she’d bought from Podolská, my interest waned somewhat. Another way of looking at it is that Catacombs is the less boisterous of the Burian films, and while it is tasteful and mildly entertaining, it is also very moralistic and gives vent to bureaucratic mannerisms and blind following of authority. The melancholic mood is tempered to a lesser extent by the events at the ball and the teachers, but the overall experience is too bitter. This applies regardless of whether we perceive the premiere date or not.