This is the final movie on this Czech new wave box set from Eclipse, and… it kinda looks really good? Which makes a change.
EEK SHOES IN BED
This is kinda riveting. It movies so fluidly between “the present” and either remembrance or fantasy (it’s hard to tell whether the movie is him thinking about how he imagines things will happen)… it’s original and fresh.
And looks great. Talented cinematography and snappy editing. And great casting for the somewhat creepy protagonist.
It’s fascinating the line the filmmakers are teetering on — this character was totally mistreated by the Czech regime in the fifties — but in the movie’s current time, he’s a total sleazeball. Any other movie would have been building sympathy for him, but this movie is like “uh nuh. that’d be too easy”.
This is totes fab.
The Joke. Jaromil Jires. 1969.
This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.