NinadeL

A classically tiresome episode from the Czech series about famous people - impressions and experiences of various people (relatives, acquaintances...) above all, yet it can't be said that it somehow holds together. We don't get the basic axis of professional life, nor do we get a clear outline of the main aspects of the private life. Pavel Taussig didn't even make it into his first film role... But it's nice that even Blanka Kovaříková was surprised about who she was actually writing a book about. Unfortunate.

"Dear TV, that story is quite a few years old, but I still remember it. A young female offender who didn't like her job but needed money to show off had an idea of how to get it. And unfortunately the idea worked."

Another nothing that wants to be something from the Bakaláři series. It's hard to decide whether the old b&w parts shot on low-quality material are more unpleasant, or these "modern" ones shot on low-quality color material. However, the solution is probably easy, as only a less believable pair than Maciuchová/Štěpnička can be found here.

An excellent suggestive experiment with the formal aspect that goes hand in hand with great visceral acting. It's no surprise, of course, that Brejchová and Brzobohatý can often perform miracles, but in a film with such feeling, it's sheer joy. One of the many films I sorely miss on DVD.

It is quite obvious that in the mid-1970s it was really easy to be attracted by a substance that could be included in the collection of the normalization indictment of the pre-Munich republic. The case of this film describes not only the scheme of corruption of capitalist society, which it is necessary to spit at, but also the all-seeing perspective of "today." If we add the traditionally completely failing period sets, costumes, and make-up, which hardly refer to the specific realities of 1928, we have the traditional schlock or a spoof of the State Film of the Bad Years. However, it would not be entirely fair to reject this Svoboda and Štorkán project because they did a good job in working with the text of the novel "Milion" and its subsequent transposition into a film script. It’s hard to explain the development that in the following few years meant that Svoboda soon became an author who could take over scripts originally intended for Vláčil. The path to the limelight through the alleys of the FSB used to be a difficult one.

A huge hit in its day, now a relic of an era where all the important British films had John Hannah in a supporting role. Gwyneth Paltrow has always been a different kind of star. Although at first glance a fragile blonde, her roles have often been in contrast or opposition to her looks and here it has come across very nicely. A grey mouse in ordinary boring clothes hurts herself by staying in a poor-quality relationship. A girl with a new zest for life changes her outward appearance, focuses on her strengths and immediately her self-confidence gives her a slightly different life story because it is never possible to detach from the original mouse. It’s nice to think about. The script is very rich, and it's a nice refresher on the classic romcom concept, but I'd still prefer it if the sets weren't so dryly British. Yet what is dry to one person is something perhaps another seeks out.

The beginning of the 1980s was great. The scripts that had been condemned by normalization were released and the audience finally saw the slightly perverse Katapult and The Downfall of the Secluded Berhof. The theme sketched by Páral is fine and I am very glad that its final form was given to it by Jireš in a time that is very similar to today, so it is very timeless. A classic story of a philanderer who has enough of everything, a nice and pretty wife, a nice child, a nice apartment and a suitable job... but the routine ends up getting to him. He is so worried about himself that he sees the solution only in starting a new double life, the Don Juan brand. Surprisingly, this decision can be made very easily with the help of a dating ad. And then it flows like clockwork, our Don Juan keeps his wife in reserve and regularly changes collections of women in various stages of infatuation. One is young, another is mature, one is earthy, another is intellectual, one is replacing her late husband, and still another wants to get married for the first time. It is a colorful, alarming, very real world that should not be forgotten or a blind eye turned toward it.

A truly fabulous romance based on Erica Fischer's studied semi-documentary book. Sapphic love blossomed in Berlin in 1943 as naturally as anywhere and at any other time... Only here she had so much more trouble. A wonderful story, very instructive as to the complexity of the times. But also full of hope and joy. Sometimes it's really easy to fall in love with a film.

Rudolf Havlík already made himself known in a very positive way in All My Tomorrows. In Fairy Tales for Emma, he continues with a successful Christmas romcom that builds on the most popular actors - Geislerová and Vetchý - and it is not only a lovely film but also a tasteful film about Prague. I am looking forward to Havlík's next work and I am glad that the Czechs can work with even the most banal genres. The times are getting better.

I don't count myself among the die-hard fans of David Cronenberg, and although I’ve been keeping an eye on hims since the days of Crash, but I've never been particularly fond of him. So what is Cosmopolis like? Ordinary. In the context of Cronenberg's work, not particularly alarming, not particularly revelatory. But his collaboration with Robert Pattinson apparently appealed to him, and so we got even more of it with Maps to the Stars...