Retrospective: Poetry of the Past - The Visionary Films of Frantisek Vlacil at AFI Silver Spring from April 23-June 29, 2011
20.04.2011 / 03:16 | Aktualizováno: 07.10.2011 / 19:38
(This article expired 21.04.2012 / 02:00.)
The films of Czech director František Vláčil (1924-1999) include one of the key precursors of the Czech New Wave in the 1960s (THE WHITE DOVE), a medieval epic considered by many to be the greatest film in Czech history (MARKETA LAZAROVÁ), and the first Czechoslovak film to examine the controversial displacement and deportation of Germans from the country after World War II (ADELHEID). For a filmmaker of such accomplishments, his work is not nearly as well known internationally as it should be, especially when compared to his more celebrated peers Miloš Forman and Jirí Menzel. AFI Silver is proud to present this landmark retrospective of one of world cinema's great unknown talents, whose command of cinematic language, visual sensibility and inspired and insightful handling of historical allegory place him at the front ranks of film artists.
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THE WHITE DOVE [Holubice]
In Vláčil's parable-like debut feature, a wheelchair-bound boy in Prague shoots a homing pigeon for target practice, then, chided by his artist neighbor, nurses the bird back to health. Meanwhile, a girl on the Baltic coast awaits her pet's return. Intensely imagistic, the nearly dialogue-free film includes a thrilling action sequence staged between the recovering pigeon and a neighborhood cat. Jan Čuříks's stunning black-and-white cinematography favors high-contrast compositions between sea and sand, cityscape and sky. One of the key films in the emerging cinematic sensibility of the 1960s that would coalesce into the Czech New Wave by the decade's end.
DIR/SCR František Vláčil; SCR Pavel Kopta. Czechoslovakia, 1960, b&w, 76 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Sat, Apr 23, 3:30; Wed, Apr 27, 9:30
THE DEVIL'S TRAP [Ďáblova past]
The first of Vláčil's three Middle Ages historical-allegorical epics is set in a Bohemian village in the late 16th century. While the farmers struggle with the summertime drought, the local miller, using his knowledge of the land and the rudiments of science, has discovered and tapped an underground aquifer, and enjoys prosperity. His success is the object of envy in the village, and after a property dispute with the local government escalates into a feud, an Inquisition priest is sent to investigate allegations of diabolical dealings behind the miller's seemingly miraculous success.
DIR František Vláčil; SCR František A. Dvorák, Milos Václav Kratochvíl. Czechoslovakia, 1962, b&w, 85 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Sun, Apr 24, 6:45; Thu, Apr 28, 9:15
MARKETA LAZAROVÁ
In 13th-century middle Europe, a young woman (Magda Vášáryová) becomes embroiled in clan warfare, fought between adherents of the traditional, pagan belief system and those caught up in the fervor of the new faith, Christianity. Stylistically, the film combines seemingly contrary qualities: the stark black-and-white visuals of castles and forests are evocatively "ancient" while the free camera movement and highly engineered sound design signify New Wave technique; similarly, the story, based on Vladislav Vančura's 1931 experimental novel, is by turns earthy and ethereal, naturalistic and hallucinatory. Named the best Czech film of all time in a 1998 poll.
DIR/SCR František Vláčil; SCR František Pavlíček, based on the novel by Vladislav Vančura; PROD Josef Ouzký. Czechoslovakia, 1967, b&w, 162 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Sat, Apr 30, 6:00; Sun, May 1, 5:00
VALLEY OF THE BEES [Údolí včel]
Falling out with his father over the older man's plans to marry a beautiful younger woman, headstrong youngster Ondrej (Petr Čepek) is sent away to apprentice with a strict order of Teutonic knights on the Baltic coast. Years later the grown-up Ondrej deserts the knights to return to his home village in Bohemia with revenge in mind, pursued by his pious mentor Armin (Jan Kačer), who hopes to stop him before it's too late. The examination of religious intolerance and political oppression in this adventure set in the Middle Ages undoubtedly contained allegorical resonance for contemporary Czechoslovak audiences, as it will for today's viewers.
DIR/SCR František Vláčil; SCR Vladimír Körner; PROD Vera Kadlecova. Czechoslovakia, 1968, b&w, 97 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Sat, May 7, 3:20; Sun, May 8, 2:45
ADELHEID
In the reclaimed Sudetenland after World War II, former RAF airman Viktor Chotovický (Petr Čepek) gets assigned to inventory and administer a large estate formerly owned by a Nazi war criminal. The former owner's daughter, Adelheid (Emma Černá), is assigned to Čepek as a servant. A strange love affair grows between the two, against a backdrop of the bloody expulsion of Germans by the Czechoslovak government in the period after the war. Vláčil's was the first film, and remains one of the few, to address this controversial chapter in Czechoslovak history.
DIR/SCR František Vláčil; SCR Vladimír Körner. Czechoslovakia, 1970, b&w/color, 99 min. In Czech and German with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Sat, May 14, 2:40; Sun, May 15, 7:00
SIRIUS
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After running afoul of government censors for the controversial topics and critical views expressed in VALLEY OF THE BEES and ADELHEID, Vláčil was unable to direct features for a number of years, eventually making a return with this featurette-length children's film, which, despite the diminished circumstances of its scope and genre, displays an allegorical potency on par with his previous work. A 12-year-old boy named František enjoys idyllic country days playing with his beloved wolfhound Sirius. The presence of World War II only gradually comes into focus, after the German army, rooting out subversives, imposes stricter rules on the locals. They also begin commandeering all service animals — training dogs for attack purposes — forcing František to face a terrible choice.
DIR/SCR František Vláčil; SCR Kamil Pixa, Jan Stibral. Czechoslovakia, 1975, color, 50 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Sun, May 15, 3:15; Mon, May 16, 7:00
SMOKE ON THE POTATO FIELDS
[Dý m bramborové nate]
Rudolf Hrušínský (star of Juraj Herz's THE CREMATOR and Jirí Menzel's CAPRICIOUS SUMMER) plays Dr. Meluzin, a man, recently separated from his wife, who returns to rural Czechoslovakia after many years living in France. Nostalgic for the country of his youth, he forms a bond with an unmarried young pregnant woman who has been kicked out by her mother.
DIR/SCR František Vláčil; SCR Václav Ný vlt. Czechoslovakia, 1977, color, 95 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Sat, May 21, 12:30; Sun, May 22, 7:45
SHADOWS OF A HOT SUMMER
[Stíny horké ho lé ta]
A Moravian farmhouse in the days following the end of WWII is occupied by a retreating band of Ukranian guerillas, who until recently were resistance fighters battling the Nazis. Faced with their abusive and criminal behavior, the peaceful farmer must choose between acquiescence and standing up to the occupiers. Notable for the intensity of its violence and an extraordinary score by Vláčil's regular collaborator, Zdeněk Liška, "a composer who matched the director's unorthodox eye with an extraordinary ear for unexpected tonal coloring and unconventional instrumentation; here it's part-Morricone, part Central European pastoral." – Michael Brooke, Sight & Sound
DIR František Vláčil; SCR Jirí Krizan. Czechoslovakia, 1978, color, 100 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Sat, May 28, 2:40; Sun, May 29, 7:45; Mon, May 30, 1:00
SERPENT'S POISON [Hadí jed]
Her mother dead, 18-year-old Vladka (Ilona Svobodová) travels to a remote village in the dead of winter to find the father she has never met. The happiness of their initial meeting gives way to the daughter's disappointment and concern over the hardworking man's (Josef Vinklár, giving an extraordinary performance) alcoholism. Vláčil and cinematographer František Uldrich return to black and white photography for the first time since 1968's VALLEY OF THE BEES, the stark images and wintry landscapes reflecting the characters' desperation and spiritual isolation.
DIR/SCR František Vláčil; SCR Irena Charvátová. Czechoslovakia, 1981, b&w, 80 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Sat, Jun 4, 3:00; Tue, Jun 7, 7:00
THE SHADOW OF THE FERN
[Stín kapradiny]
Caught poaching a deer, two callow teenagers shoot the gamekeeper and flee farther into the forest, imagining a life of escape and adventure for themselves outside the law. But they are in a trap of their own devising, from which there can be no escape. Vláčil's hallucinatory nightmare of pursuit and persecution was based on a novel by Josef Čapek, Czech folklore and, perhaps, Jan Nemec's 1964 classic DIAMONDS OF THE NIGHT.
DIR/SCR František Vláčil; SCR Vladimír Körner, Jan Otcenásek, based on a novel by Josef Čapek. Czechoslovakia, 1984, color, 90 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Sat, Jun 18, 2:45; Sun, Jun 19, 7:45
SENTIMENT
Tomáš Hejtmánek's tribute to Vláčil is based on interviews taped with him before he died, which are here reenacted by the actor Jiří Kodet in the role of the director. Kodet provides a remarkable characterization and the film is intercut with footage of the locations where Vláčil shot MARKETA LAZAROVá, VALLEY OF THE BEES and ADELHEID. Extracts from the soundtracks are sometimes re-used with new images filmed in striking black and white by Jaromír Kačer. There are also appearances by František Velecký , Jan Kačer and Emma Černá against the locations where the films were originally shot. (Courtesy Czech Centre London)
DIR/SCR/PROD Tomas Hejtmanek; SCR Jirí Soukup. Czech Republic, 2003, b&w/color, 76 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Followed by:
GLASS SKIES [Sklenená oblaka]
A young boy and an old man share dreams of flight in Vláčil's poetic and visually dazzling short film, a prize winner at the 1958 Venice Film Festival.
DIR/SCR František Vláčil. Czechoslovakia, 1958, color, 18 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
And:
ART NOUVEAU PRAGUE [Praha secesní lé ta 1895-1914]
A sumptuous survey of the art and architecture of Prague from the turn of the 20th century.
DIR/SCR František Vláčil. Czechoslovakia, 1974, color, 30 min. In Czech with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Tue, Jun 28, 7:00; Wed, Jun 29, 7:00