Hughmn Reviews

Hotel Modrá hvezda (1941)

Charming light comedy

[9/10 · 25 August 2010]

This film is now available on DVD in the Czech Republic. The DVD can be played with English language subtitles.

Terrifically charming light comedy about a young Czech girl (Natasa Gallova, who was really 29, though you wouldn't know it to look at her) who inherits a run-down hotel where three jazz musicians have been living rent free. Gallova is adorable, and I hope I can find more films with her. I was surprised to find on IMDb that, after a period of time away from the screen, she returned in the mid 1950s and continued to work for some years. She even had a small role in Juraj Herz wonderfully bizarre black comedy, "The Cremator" in 1969.

This delightful piece of escapist entertainment was made during World War Two, but there is no indication in the story of any war. There is no hint of propaganda, only fun and music, swing music for that matter. So if the Germans were cracking down degenerate art, swing doesn't seem to have been on the list, at least not in occupied Bohemia.

Dependable actor Oldrich Novy plays the rich playboy industrialist who is set on staying at the old hotel because his parents spent their honeymoon there. Adina Mandlova is his pretty, though stubborn, fiancée, who insists on planting herself at a modern hotel in a better district of the city, which has the same name.

The existence of two Blue Star Hotels in two different districts of the city is device used to create confusion in a number of situations, but the plot is much more inventive than that simple set-up, and the film is great fun. It is marred slightly only by a final conclusion that is brought about rather abruptly. Still, I greatly enjoyed The Blue Star Hotel.

Katakomby (1940)

Great actor, so-so film

[6/10 · 24 August 2010]

Vlasta Burian was a legendary Czech comic actor, who appeared in dozens of Czech language films from 1923 to 1956. His heyday in film was the 1930s, and he is a distinctive and amusing presence, with his great mustache and his penetrating eyes. To date I have only seen two of his films:"Katakomby" (The Catacombs) and "Duchácek to zarídí," (which if I remember correctly, translates as "Duchacek Will Fix It").

"Catacombs" is the lesser of these two films. The title refers to the office of records in the basement of a large company... sort of the place where a troublesome employee may be dumped in a dead end job. If fact, the story is a simple romantic comedy, with Burian as the kindly old stick-in-the-mud who helps the young man to sort out his romance with the daughter of the company's owner.

There are a few amusing bits with Burian, but the story is strictly by the numbers. I should also note that unless you can read subtitles VERY fast, you may find yourself pausing the DVD in order to catch the fast dialog.

Turbina (1941)

Fascinating production tries to cram too much story into 85 minutes

[7/10 · 24 August 2010]

Film Export Home Video and the National Film Archive in Prague have released a large number of DVDs of classic Czech films over the last few years, many of them with excellent English language subtitles available from the "titulky" menu.

I found "Turbina" on a double-bill disk with another production made during WWII, "Divka v modrem" (Girl in Blue).

This must have received a huge budget for its day. The story is based on a famous 1916 novel about an upper middle class Czech family growing apart at the turn of the 20th century. The father has a waterworks company that is building a modern water-powered electrical turbine, that he hopes will help to modernize the entire town, and make him a fortune. He has three grown children, ready to leave the nest: his favorite daughter, who hopes to become an opera singer, his younger daughter, who seeks a medical degree, and his son who appears to have no ambition at all. There is also the rich, bitter, and eccentric uncle, who lives in the old tower next to the waterworks, and fears that the new construction will damage his Gothic home. Each is due for reward or comeuppance, depending upon their dreams.

All these stories play out in a very brief 85 minutes. Not nearly enough to do them justice, and the film suffers significantly because it pares each tale down almost to bullet points. Nevertheless, there is enough of interest here: some excellent scenes (including one that will remind you of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead") as well as some wonderful production design and photography, to make it more than worth your while, if you happen to be lucky enough to find a copy.

The Man from the First Century (1962)

60's Futurism Lives!!

[8/10 · 24 August 2010]

This film is now available on a beautifully clean, clear transfer, from FilmExport Home Video in the Czech Republic. I picked my copy up in Prague in 2010, but hopefully someone will sell these DVDs online and ship internationally.

According to the DVD box, the proper translation of the title is "Man from the First Century," and that title makes more sense than the translation provided here. The Czech title is "Muz z prvniho stoleti."

Just before the launch of a modern (1960s) rocket ship, a humble upholsterer is making some last minute repairs to the cockpit seats when he accidentally initiates an early launch, and manages to send himself into outer space. By the time his ship returns to earth, he has had his encounter with the theory of relativity, and while he has not noticeably aged, life on earth is now 500 years into the future.

While the film is very funny, the real star is the wonderfully inventive production design. There is an absolute plethora of amusing sets and props of futuristic design. This is a very complete "society" that our anti-hero drops into, clearly meant to be a version of the socialist utopia that was bound to occur after several hundred years of communism. The "man from the first century" is completely incapable of grasping his own good fortune, however, and insists on trying to impress.

While comic actor Milos Kopecky seems a bit like a Czech Peter Sellers, the film's script is not as good as either its actors or its inventive production design. Pacing seems a bit lumpy, but it is still such a remarkable and unique production, that it's well worth a look.

Dívka v modrém (1940)

Amusing Czech comedy made during World War Two

[7/10 · 24 August 2010]

I found this film, with English subtitles available, on a Film Export Home Video DVD in Prague in 2010. The DVD contains a "double-bill" of "Divka v modrem" (Girl in Blue) and a Czech drama from the same era, "Turbina" (Turbine).

"Divka v modrem" (Girl in Blue) is a reasonably charming comedy about a middle-class Czech man who falls in love with a beautiful girl portrayed in a 300 year-old painting, that is rumored to be cursed.

The story starts in the modern day (1940s) as the furnishings of a great castle are sold at auction. On sale with everything else is the painting. The girl in the painting, it is said, is a vampire: the painting has been cursed, and three successive male generations of the same family have fallen under its spell and ultimately perished at the foot of the painting.

Oldrich Novy plays the mild mannered notary who has fallen in love with the girl in the painting. When the painting fails to sell at auction, he ends up taking it home for safe-keeping, to await the arrival of the next generation of the great family, who is due to arrive shortly.

Our hero is also suffering the attentions of two women, a widow and a young girl with a pushy mother... both of whom seem to think that this well-connected notary and accountant is a perfect matrimonial catch. But he has eyes only for the "girl in blue" in the painting. Late at night, overcome by her beauty, he reaches up to kiss the painting, and his kiss brings the girl to life, and she steps right out of the picture frame.

A three hundred year-old countess, in the flesh, turns out to be much more to handle than our hero has ever imagined. She is used to luxury and servants to wait upon her, and she has no notion of modern inventions or fashion. The notary also has trouble explaining the sudden appearance of an extraordinarily beautiful young woman in his apartment overnight.

The story plays out with genuine humor, but also with a number of logical inconsistencies. A willing suspension of disbelief is required from the audience in order to thoroughly accept the story and the magical transformation (without the benefit of sophisticated visual effects). Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie, and will definitely recommend it to friends.

The Smoke (1991)

Wild and wacky tale of the late days of socialism in Czechoslovakia

[8/10 · 24 August 2010]

I picked this up on DVD on a trip to Prague in 2010. This new edition DVD offers English language subtitles. Viewed some 19 years after its original release, "Kour" (which means "Smoke") certainly comes off as a weird and wonderful piece of comedy. With a head of hair that makes him look like a cross between Eraserhead and a young Lyle Lovett, young Mirek, played by Jan Slovak, arrives for his new job at the socialist factory that makes an unidentified product. He is put in charge of a report to recommend methods for reducing the pollution that the factory liberally spews into the environment. It is immediately clear that the powers that be at the factory don't really want him to change anything, and the workers are much too distracted to care. This is a parable for the condition of the socialist state, and it plays out fairly predictably. Fortunately, the bitter humor that the film is invested with redeems it. To add to this, the movie is a sort of musical... though the music will not appeal to everyone. One of the things I found interesting was that the film suggests that almost no one in its story is a totally innocent victim of the system. Everyone has collaborated in some way or other as part of the status quo. The same smoke that belches from the factory towers and wafts through the town as smog, is also emitted from the copious number of cigarettes that our "hero" and just about everyone else smokes. It's as if the filmmaker was saying "we've all contributed, in our way, to the pollution that surrounds us, and we're all going to have to improve ourselves as well as the government, if we ever want it to get better."

Pupendo (2003)

Great film improves with second viewing

[9/10 · 9 August 2010]

I bought this on DVD on my last visit to Prague, but didn't look at it until a couple of months later. I picked it up only because I remembered hearing the title, and a Czech friend recommended it. When I finally looked at the film, I realized vaguely that I had seen it before, probably while on an airline flight returning to the US from the Czech Republic some years ago. I remember thinking that I only mildly liked it the first time, so I almost turned it off without watching again. I'm so glad I didn't do that! After a slow start, the humor and the irony started to sink in. By the time the film was halfway through, I was laughing and (almost) crying my head off. This film is SO CZECH, and SO RICH, and it definitely gets better on the second viewing. (I say that even though my first viewing was in less than ideal circumstances, on a small airline screen.) I loved it. Other reviewers may have a point in saying it will play better to people or already understand Czechoslovakia in the 80s. I've talked to some American friends who can't seem to get past their own preconceptions about what eastern block communism must have been like. Still, I would recommend that anyone who enjoys stories with ironic humor and deeply layered ambiguity give this film a try.

I realize, now that I've looked it up on IMDb, that I had almost exactly the same reaction to director Jan Hrebejk's following film "Up and Down." Except that one I liked well enough the first time through... and loved the second time.

I would also recommend his "Divided We Fall" and "Beauty in Trouble." But "Pupendo" was a real surprise. Damn!! Now I'm going to have to find all his work!!

Great movie! Thoughtful, subtle, ironic, rich. Get it!

Broken Promise (2009)

An unvarnished tale of resistance in central Europe

[9/10 · 9 February 2010]

I saw this film at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival. Mr. Friedman-Petrasek was present for the screening, and answered questions afterward. Like another writer, I was struck by the possible parallel to "Defiance." By contrast with that film, I was particularly impressed with the evenhanded honesty with which the story was told. In particular, the way in which the Slovak partisans were NOT presented in a romanticized heroic light.

The film is beautifully shot on location in Slovakia. The production quality gives no hint of a limited budget, though I can't imagine that the producers had a lot of money to play with.

The tragedies of the Slovak Jews, including many members of Mr. Friedman's family were well told, if familiar to someone like myself who has seen many Holocaust tales. But most tales of the resistance are overtly heroic affairs.

* * * SPOILER * * *

However, here the partisans hiding out in the mountains are a distinctly rag-tag group. The first time Martin gets a chance to shoot at a German, the Russian commander of the partisans tells him to hold his fire until the car passes, because he's spied a wild boar that can provide them with food. "Shoot the pig" he orders.

There are many other incidents in which the practical need to survive takes precendence over idealism or honor. These men are not saints. Some of them are not even decent, they're just allied against the Germans. Russians are in command, and a another soldier is very possibly a German army deserter. Anti-Semitism is prevalent, and Martin decides it is best to keep his Jewish heritage a secret, which as it turns out, is a very good idea.

Yet, despite the serious shades of gray, this is a hopeful story. Martin stumbles at a number of turns, but survives. His is an honest story of hope and determination. There are few enough films coming out of Slovakia these days, and this is a very good one. I greatly enjoyed the film, and I hope it will prove successful for the talented team that created it.

The Fourth Kind (2009)

A Movie to Nowhere...

[1/10 · 13 December 2009]

Unless you really enjoy leaving your logical abilities on the shelf when you go to a movie, it's unlikely that you'll have any fun at this dull, repetitive, predictable, and very silly affair. It doesn't really feel like a movie, just a reality-TV show blown up for the big screen. The "real" video looks fake, the people seem like actors, and the footage conveniently is obscured by electrical interference anytime something interesting is about to happen.

My only caveat is that, since I walked out of the film about two-thirds of the way through, there's always the faint possibility that the filmmakers did something to redeem themselves before the end. However, judging from the other reviews on this site, that seems unlikely.

The movie is set in a town in Alaska that supposedly has suffered from unexplained disappearances for years. If this is true, as so fatuously claimed by the filmmakers, that should be pretty easy to confirm with a news/internet search. From what I've been able to gather, there's not much out there to confirm any of the supposed "facts" offered by the filmmakers.

Maybe instead of stopping that "bridge-to-nowhere," Sarah Palin should have concerned herself with stopping the production of the movie-to-nowhere. Certainly this film can't do the reputation of Alaska much good. On the other hand, maybe this film was MADE for Sarah Palin? Alien abduction isn't much stranger than "health care death panels." Yipes!

Appaloosa (2008)

Great Western

[8/10 · 12 October 2009]

I saw this after seeing "3:10 to Yuma," which was so bad it made me wonder if I ever wanted to see another western.

Thank you, Ed Harris! This film made me a believer again. With a laconic pace that permitted you to enjoy the details, a true western heart, a great story of male friendship, a strikingly ambivalent heroine, great photography, and remarkably good (especially on a budget) art direction, this film managed to be both familiar and fresh at the same time.

The story is told from the point of view of Everett Hitch, Viggo Mortensen's character. Ed Harris is wonderful as the quiet mar-shall, Virgil Cole. Renee Zellweger is a decidedly different frontier widow. Jeremy Irons' bad guy may have just a little bit too much fun with his lines, but his character is serviceable and vividly drawn. A pleasant surprise is Spanish actress Ariadna Gil as Katie, the saloon girl who becomes Mortensen's confidante. Some great character actors round out the cast, including a terrific turn by Bob Harris (Ed Harris' father) as a hangin' judge.

Nice musical score, too.

I really enjoyed this one. Hope you do, too.

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Bad movie alert!

[1/10 · 12 October 2009]

I'm standing up to be counted with the small but vocal minority here that found this film to be utterly unconvincing and a complete waste of time.

If you like your action to be reasonably believable by anyone over the age of 8, then steer clear... that is unless you WANT to spend the whole time laughing at the ridiculous feats of marksmanship... or ridiculous inability of dozens of gunmen to hit the target... all depending upon what the script wants at that particular moment. The final ambush gauntlet sequence is particularly laughable.

Consistent logic is not required for these characters. In fact, it's best to put your own logic away under lock and key before turning on this movie.

If you want to see a recent western, you might try "Appaloosa." But avoid this gobbler like the overcooked turkey that it is.

The filmmakers should be embarrassed!

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

Disappointing

[5/10 · 15 December 2008]

All right: the movie is a fable, not a realistic representation of real events. So I can forgive some of the many, many unrealistic events and situations in the story. Judging by other reviews here, the movie clearly works powerfully on many people. The young actor who plays the lead role does an excellent job.

Still, as I sat there watching the film, wanting to like it, I found that I could not suspend disbelief. The English accents probably played into this more than I wish, because I can never watch a movie like this without remembering my friend Martin who said years ago: "I'm always uncomfortable when the Germans in a WWII film speak better English than I do!" Couldn't they at least have tried German accents, if they felt they couldn't shoot the film in the German language?

But even past the accents, I just found so many parts of the story hard to swallow. Hard to believe the boy could take that many trips to the camp without his mother noticing he wasn't in the swing in the front yard. Hard to believe he could sit there at the fence for hours on end without being noticed. Hard to believe he could dig right under the fence on a moments notice. Hard to believe he just didn't chuck the shovel and climb THROUGH the fence, since this movie fence had the widest weave I've ever seen. And the list goes on and on.

And in the end, the story drops everything for the sake of a shocking ending that involves just as much coincidence as everything else. Even the build-up has the parents oddly prescient the some kind of serious danger is afoot...

It IS a great idea to look at the holocaust through the eyes of an (initially) uncomprehending German child. But in all the literature available, wasn't there a REAL story available? I can't help but think that a real story would have been even more powerful than this fable-made-concrete. Perhaps it worked better as a book. Too bad they didn't leave it alone.

Yes (I) (2004)

For Lovers of Language

[10/10 · 4 August 2007]

Several reviewers mention Shakespeare... but what I thought back to, while watching this mesmerizing film was Dylan Thomas. Sally Potter is really his heir.

I missed this film in the theater because a friend who saw it didn't know what to make of the poetry, and was put off by it. The idea of such a film is audacious, but I was afraid it would terribly difficult to pull off, and likely come off like some kind of stunt. I was SO wrong. I had completely forgotten about the film by the time I pulled the DVD off the video store shelf.

Within the first few minutes I was totally focused and delighted. Occasionally I had trouble understanding the accents, but that got easier as the film went along. If it was only a stunt, then it would still be little more than just that, but Sally Potter has something strong and beautiful to say, and the two leads (along with the wonderful Shirley Henderson as the chorus) illuminate Potter's words before our eyes. This is strong stuff, the stuff of life. Watch it with your eyes, your ears and your mind.

Goya's Ghosts (2006)

Don't believe the critics - See This Film!!!

[9/10 · 26 July 2007]

There is one great flaw here that almost everyone mentions... and it's true. The accents of the non-Spanish actors clash terribly with the Spanish ones, as well as with each other. That's a real flaw, but if you can get past that, there's a great film waiting to be seen. I found I forgot all about it after the first 10 minutes. The critics just don't get this film. A lot of regular people seem to miss it too. They want a film with a typical "leading" role. They want their morality tales (which this certainly IS) delivered in easy shades of Black and White... no gray. They don't understand films where the title character is primarily an Observer. Sometimes that CAN be dissatisfying, but here the Observer is a genuine genius. Some people want him to be a moral giant, but he's not, he's simply an observer who has actualized the doctor's oath: First, do no harm. This is a brilliant story, and a morally complex one, too. There are some parallels to America in Iraq, though that is not the primary goal. This story illuminates the folly of any regime, liberal or conservative, as each picks its friends and foes, taking 180 degree turns from whoever was last in power. Javier Bardem gives an incredibly canny performance! Natalie Portman is totally unsentimental and totally committed to her multiple roles: just great! Stellan Skarsgard threw me off at first with the sound of his voice, but builds a performance of power and truth, in spite of it. Randy Quaid was a small revelation. And of course the film looks and sounds spectacular, with it's numerous and detailed textures, compositions and sounds. If you want to think; if you like having pat assumptions challenged; if you love people and history and art: see it!

Beauty and the Beast (1978)

Beautiful version of the fairy tale

[9/10 · 24 February 2006]

I saw this film many years ago at Filmex in Los Angeles, and it left a strong impression. It is a truly beautiful version of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. It is a real shame that Herz's films are not available today, at least to US cinephiles.

I remember this film as having been done in a very naturalistic way, with (I think) no optical effects at all. The costumes were wonderful, as was the music and the acting. It seems to me there was a situation in which a woman's dress turned to mud (in a simple jump cut). The "Beast" is especially striking, with his bird-like plumage.

Anyone at Facets want to take this one on?