NinadeL

The first film version of Henry James' "The Aspern Papers" is a solid film of its decade - the mystery, suspense, thick atmosphere - it takes the strongest emotions from the novel. Actually, it is a pleasure to compare it with the Slovak production of "Letters to Juliane." If it worked in broad daylight, it must have been a real treat after dark on a bigger screen.

A more modern vision of Henry James' novel about time travel to the 18th century. When compared to the first film adaptation, Berkeley Square, which still falls in the wonderful pre-code era, The House in the Square is more stylized, and slicker, and even though I normally have fond feelings of the old Technicolor experience, Tyrone Power and Ann Blyth certainly don't break my heart. However, the material is excellent and I would really enjoy a new miniseries.

The genesis of the Berkeley Square theme is very interesting. At the beginning was Henry James' last unfinished novel "The Sense of the Past" (1917). In the Anglo-Saxon milieu, the theme of time travel to the 18th century resonated, and John L. Balderston's play was subsequently written (1926). The play made its way from London to Broadway in the late 1920s and from there it was just a step to Hollywood. It went from the Broadway production to the Leslie Howard film and an Oscar nomination was in the cards. The whole thing is such a wonderfully old-world romantic, attractive theme that originally made you forget the horrors of the Great War. Today, the Outlander phenomenon draws on a similar theme.

Non-stop Deli is a big little TV show. All the characters have interconnected destinies, they don't stray too far from each other and the whole thing stands and falls on dialogues about the meaning of life. As an idea, it's not bad, and the Kopta/Sedláčková duo has significant comic potential, and fortunately, they don't fall into parody.

Probably an unlikely story, but one that has a firm place in the modern stories of today. Conditions in a small-town elementary school will always be exciting; we all have enough of those little big men, hypocritical teachers, crooked principals, and rambunctious kids around us. The story of the burlesque milieu is refreshing, and it is portrayed attractively enough to inspire someone who is interested enough to follow in its footsteps. Some of the characters rustle paper, others seem like they are taken directly from life. The Jan Kraus show is cleverly incorporated into it.

For all the enthusiasm I've been able to muster for other Vinterberg films, I find The Commune to be an outright disappointment. It may hold up as a retro flashback, but most viewers lack the context to really understand how far the film's subject matter is from the mood of Copenhagen's suburbs at the time. That leaves a story about one big ego that is just mind-numbing and sad. A better mastery of the theme can be found in And If We All Lived Together.

The current aristocratic book series by Evžen Boček has gradually grown into a pentalogy, with each individual volume slowly but surely becoming a bestseller. It would therefore be rather surprising if no film transcript was made of it. So how good is the final film, you ask? It's not as disastrous of a Vejdělek film as others. However, the cast is not overly suited to current tastes. And it would not, of course, tolerate authentic Americans playing Americans. In any case, something pleasantly Christmassy was created, and in these early days, even a mediocre film is actually happy news. Think of such experiments as Little Baby Jesus.

Thomas Vinterberg, Mads Mikkelsen, and old friends from The Celebration (1998). Or the next generation of the Danish film miracle of the 90s. The Hunt (2012) was already brilliant and it will be great if Vinterberg and Mikkelsen find another common theme in the future. Another Round is one of those cinematic experiences that can be easily talked about as gems.

What more can I say? Probably the earliest biopic of the Princess of Wales. Olivia de Havilland, of course in the role of the Queen Mother, also received a bit of shame. The Diana phenomenon was like a plague. During her lifetime, there was even one feature film Diana: Her True Story.

In the thoroughly modern drama What Maisie Knew, starring such popular actors as Julianne Moore and Alexander Skarsgård, few would have expected an adaptation of Henry James' 1897 novel of the same name. The issue of divorce and its impact on the child has not changed much since then and that is why it seems so topical. A similar film with the same sensitivity, depicting a little protagonist, was made in the Czech Republic and was called Who's Afraid of the Wolf.