settima

KarelKachyňa

Vysoká zeď [The High Wall] (Karel Kachyňa, 1964)

Jul

23

Vysoká zeď (1964)

The young man (Vít Olmer) rests in the sun with Jitka (Radka Dulíková) observing him. DP: Josef Vaniš.

Someone is in an ambulance or hospital*

“We still remember our high wall. Even the day we first climbed it, filled with curiosity. The sadness of the discoveries of those years seemed devastating to us. Then we wondered how we could have forgotten it so suddenly.”

– prologue

It's summer in Prague. Jitka, a girl on the cusp of womanhood, follows a stray cat and finds a tall hospital wall. Behind it, a young man in a wheelchair rests. The girl and the man connect.

 

Ucho [The Ear] (Karel Kachyňa, 1970)

Jul

17

Ucho (1970)

Party member, and rather drunk, Anna (Jiřina Bohdalová) and her newspaper hat at the officials' party. DP: Josef Illík.

“The 17th of July. Comrade Anna is not lying!”

Ucho [The Ear] (Karel Kachyňa, 1970)

Jan

8

cake

Ucho (1970)

A gold-rimmed plate with a messy piece of cake on its side. Near it two glasses and a bottle of alcohol. DP: Josef Illík.

Malá morská víla [The Little Mermaid] (Karel Kachyňa, 1976)

Mar

3

National Dress In Blue Day

Malá morská víla (1976)

The little mermaid (Miroslava Safránková) in her wonderful sea-blue dress, puts a coral-red rose in her blue hair. DP: Jaroslav Kučera.

Miroslava Safránková plays Hans Christian Andersen's doomed little mermaid – Malá morská víla in Czech – who falls in love with a mortal and gives up her beautiful voice to be with him. Sadly, the mortal, a prince, doesn't recognize his mute saviour and doesn't return his love.

“The other day I got caught in some fishermen's net. Of course, I had to drown them. I couldn't allow them to touch me, could I?”

– the little mermaid

The wonderful soundtrack is by Zdeněk Liška who also composed music for Ikarie XB 1 (Jindřich Polák, 1963) and Spalovač mrtvol (Juraj Herz, 1969).

Ucho [The Ear] (Karel Kachyňa, 1970)

Jan

27

Thomas Crapper Day

Ucho (1970)

Ludvik (Radoslav Brzobohatý) taking a break from the official's party in a pristine but claustrophobic, white-tiled toilet stall. DP: Josef Illík.

“Even you, Ear, can't listen in the toilet!”

– Ludvik