CZECH REPUBLIC – rarefilmm | The Cave of Forgotten Films

TOUHA ZVANÁ ANADA (1971)

Jon W. — Fri, 14 May 2021 06:07:23 +0000

A fisherman saves Anada, a woman adrift, from drowning. He takes her to his home, and protects her. Eventually, she occupies a larger place than was to be expected. He commits adultery with her, but his own wife seems to be in love with the strange young woman.

Directors: Ján Kadár & Elmar Klos. AKA Adrift
Writers: Lajos Zilahy (novel), Imre Gyöngyössy, Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos.
Stars: Rade Markovic, Milena Dravic, Paula Pritchett, Jozef Kroner, Vlado Müller, Gustáv Valach, Iván Darvas, Jaroslav Marvan, Janko Boldis, Dezsö Király, Dano Zivojinovic, Rudolf Velický, Zsigmond Turner.
Cinematographer: Vladimír Novotný.
Composer: Zdenek Liska.

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Note: HD copy added on May 14th, 2021. Big upgrade for this film which was previously only available in a very poor TVRip from Czech TV. Original English subtitles taken from Opensubs (author unknown), improved with help from a Czech friend (thank you Kristina!), there’s still a few untranslated lines of dialogue but none of much importance.

NÁVRAT IDIOTA (1999)

Jon W. — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 10:42:23 +0000

Frantisek, the main character is returning to his family. Until now he’s been, “successfully” avoiding all relationships. He is an ingenuous and a pure person and thus, is regarded as an idiot. He becomes involved in various love and family conflicts. It is because he hasn’t experienced much of the “real” life that he is able to perceive human relationships in their genuineness.

Director: Sasa Gedeon. AKA The Idiot Returns.
Writers: Fyodor Dostoevsky (novel), Sasa Gedeon.
Stars: Pavel Liska, Anna Geislerová, Tatiana Vilhelmová, Jirí Langmajer, Jirí Machácek, Zdena Hadrbolcová, Jitka Smutná, Pavel Marek, Anna Polívková, Yvetta Janousková, Petra Kolárová, Josef Oplt, Petr Vydra, Michal Rausar, Alena Olahová.

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VÝLET (2002)

Jon W. — Tue, 26 May 2020 06:10:13 +0000

A family trip which transforms into a tragicomic psychological drama. Claiming that it was her son’s wish, Grandma Valerie is determined to transfer his urned remains from the small Czech town to their native Slovakia. Her daughter-in-law accompanies her, as do her two adult granddaughters, one nearing the end of her pregnancy with a five-year-old in tow, the other with her husband. Tense relations and conflict come to a head along the way, and the truth erupts from under layers of pretence and deferential consideration. The truths revealed are at times surprising, at others bitter or even comic, but always cleansing.

Director: Alice Nellis. AKA Some Secrets.
Stars: Iva Janzurová, Theodora Remundová, Igor Bares, Sabina Remundová, Nada Kotrsová, Jakub Chrbolka.

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PANÍ LE MURIE (1993)

Jon W. — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 09:45:08 +0000

Petr Vaclav’s documentary Pani Le Murie depicts the last survivor of an aristocratic family who refused to bow to Communism.

Director: Petr Vaclav. AKA Madame Le Murie

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KOLJA (1996) [DIRECTOR’S CUT]

Jon W. — Sat, 07 Mar 2020 14:10:11 +0000

Franta Louka is a concert cellist in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia, a confirmed bachelor and a lady’s man. Having lost his place in the state orchestra, he must make ends meet by playing at funerals and painting tombstones. But he has run up a large debt, and when his friend, the grave-digger Mr. Broz, suggests a scheme for making a lot of money by marrying a Russian woman so that she can get her Czech papers, he reluctantly agrees. She takes advantage of the situation to emigrate to West Germany, to her lover; and leaves her five-year-old son with his grandmother; when the grandmother dies, Kolya must come and live with his stepfather, Louka.

Director: Jan Sverák.
Writers: Pavel Taussig (story), Zdenek Sverák.
Stars: Zdenek Sverák, Andrey Khalimon, Libuse Safránková, Ondrej Vetchý, Stella Zázvorková, Ladislav Smoljak, Irina Bezrukova, Irina Bezrukova, Liliyan Malkina, Karel Hermánek, Petra Spalková, Nela Boudová, René Pribil, Miroslav Táborský, Slávka Budínová, Jirí Sovák.
Cinematographer: Vladimír Smutný.
Composer: Ondrej Soukup.

1997 Academy Awards – Winner of an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
1997 Golden Globes – Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

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PANNA A NETVOR (1978)

Jon W. — Sun, 22 Dec 2019 11:27:08 +0000

A more horrific and gloomy version of The Beauty and the Beast. Julie, the youngest daughter of a bankrupt merchant, sacrifices her life in order to save her father. She goes to an enchanted castle in the woods and meets Netvor, a bird-like monster. As Netvor begins to fall in love with Julie, he must suppress his beastly urge to kill her.

Director: Juraj Herz. AKA Beauty and the Beast
Writers: Juraj Herz (screenplay), Ota Hofman (screenplay), Frantisek Hrubín (play & screenplay), Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (fairy tale).
Stars: Zdena Studenková, Vlastimil Harapes, Václav Voska, Jana Brejchová, Zuzana Kocúriková, Marta Hrachovinová, Vit Olmer, Jan Preucil, Milan Hein, Karel Augusta, Josef Laufer, Josef Langmiler, Frantisek Svacina.
Cinematographer: Jirí Macháne.
Composer: Petr Hapka.

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WIR (1982)

Jon W. — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 08:17:00 +0000

Based on novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin. “A vision of a united totalitarian state, a world of quadratic harmony and blue-grey conformity”.

Director: Vojtech Jasný.
Writers: Yevgeni Zamyatin (novel) (as Jewgenij Samjatin), Claus Hubalek.
Stars: Dieter Laser, Sabine von Maydell, Gert Haucke, oachim Dietmar Mues.
Cinematographers: Martin Strauß, Norbert Zinkand.
Composer: Jan Novák.

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SMYK (1960)

Jon W. — Sat, 26 Oct 2019 19:50:50 +0000

Czech immigrant Frantisek Král has a terrible car accident in West Berlin. The West German secret service immediately takes advantage of the situation, provides him with a new identity and starts training Král, who is suffering from partial amnesia, to become a spy and to get hold of a microfilm from Prague. At first everything goes according to plan, but when he realises his home town is anything but the dreary, suffering place that had been drummed into him, things move in a different direction…

Director: Zbyněk Brynych. AKA Skid
Stars: Jirí Vala, Jirina Jirásková, Jirina Svorcová, Walter Taub, Ivan Palec, Josef Vinklár, Jarmila Kurandová, Libuse Matejová.