Category Archives: Other Slavic Cinema

What you don’t take, you won’t have! “Marketa Lazarová” [1967 Czechoslovakia]

Frantisek Vlácil is considered one of the pioneers of the Czech New Wave. Having started out as a graphic artist, Vlácil ventured into film, particularly features, much later in his career, and therefore belonged to an earlier generation to his … Continue reading

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Finding Eden: “Záhrada” [1995 Slovakia] (updated)

Made in a newly born Slovakia, Martin Sulík’s charming comedy drama “Záhrada” [Eng. Title: The Garden] nods to the Czechoslovak New Wave in no uncertain regard – particularly in its depiction of ‘surreal’ realism, often seen in works by Vera Chytilová … Continue reading

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Oksana Borbat and Valentina Vyntu in “Hutorskie strasti” [2008 Ukraine]

This is one of my ‘guilty-pleasure’ posts as I wasn’t in a mood for anything particularly deep this week. Ukrainian director Aleksandr Parkhomenko’s “Hutorskie strasti” translates as Hamlet of Passion, a comedy that resembles one of the gleefully naughty stocking-fillers that … Continue reading

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A brief review: “Requiem pro panenku” [1991 Czechoslovakia]

Actor-director Filip Renc’s “Requiem pro panenku” [Requiem for a Maiden] is based on true events that happened in 1984, when a troubled fourteen year old girl was interned in the wrong institution – she should have gone into social care … Continue reading

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Italian neorealism, Czech-style: “Skrivánci na niti” [1969 Czechoslovakia]

Jirí Menzel was an important part of the Czechoslovak New Wave – a film movement during the 1960’s when a handful of its directors made remarkable observations on society and culture through compelling cinema, and with an openness rarely noticed … Continue reading

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