The Wolf from Royal Vineyard Street
Vlk z Královských Vinohrad
Jan Němec
“Take the good and leave out the bad”, Němec, off camera, instructs his lead actor who is eating a fish tail. Such is the method in this masterful coda to his life, a summary of the juicy parts he reconstructs and reimagines for his alter ego, a semi-fictional character John Jan. He brings him, guerrilla-style, to Cannes, which turned from a place of heightened anticipation to a scene of professional heartbreak he never got over. Staging Godard’s murder is just a small payback for it.
Eric Clapton’s music and footage from the director’s previous films blend in seamlessly with John Jan’s escapades, while his other alter ego, the film’s narrator, comments with a flare of mischief and irony. The moving footage of the tragedy of the Soviet invasion of Prague reprised in total silence and defence of Kafka as an author of social justice, are only a small taste of the riches that make this film so delectable.
