“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.
Film details
- Countries of production
- Czech Republic, France, Slovakia
- Year
- 2016
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2017
- Length
- 68"
- Medium/Format
- DCP
You may also like this
-
Diamonds of the Night
Two Jewish boys escape the train taking them to a Nazi concentration camp. Devastated and lost, they try to find their way through a hostile and co
-
Ester Krumbachová Through the Eyes of Jan Němec
The muse and co-creator of the best works from the Czechoslovak New Wave, credited for giving the Wave its distinct look, is portrayed here by her
-
Flames of Royal Love
The marriage between an eccentric prince and a diabolical cleaning lady leads to debauch in the royal family. This adaptation of Ladislav Kl&#