Frantisek Vlácil

  • Frantisek Vlácil – Pasácek z doliny AKA The Little Shepherd Boy from the Valley (1983)

    1981-1990Czech RepublicDramaFrantisek Vlácil
    Pasácek z doliny (1983)
    Pasácek z doliny (1983)

    It is 1947 and the Beskydy Mountains still display traces of war. A ten-year old boy pastures a herd of cows in a meadow housing a damaged German tank. The little herdsman lives with his half-blind grandfather in a village poorhouse. His mother Kateřina, an apathetic and unhinged woman, works for the farmer Potocký. The boy has no father. He has got used to working from morning till evening and he never attended school. No one ever stands up for him, only Uncle Králík comes from time to time and brings him a gift. He also enjoys the love of his granddad who often tells him stories about the elf king and his treasure. In the meantime, two members of the troops supporting the Ukrainian nationalist Bandera, nicknamed Blondy and Beardy, have a deal with the village mayor that a sabotage group will pass through the village…Read More »

  • Frantisek Vlácil – Holubice AKA The White Dove (1960)

    1951-1960ArthouseCzech RepublicDramaFrantisek Vlácil

    A poetic film about a dove getting lost on its way to Prague getting shot down by a paralyzed boy. An artist who finds the dove becomes friends with the boy. Together they take care of it bringing it back to recovery.Read More »

  • Frantisek Vlácil – Albert (1985)

    Drama1981-1990Frantisek VlácilSlovakiaTV

    A poor but great violinist is invited to stay at an aristocrat’s house. It is based on a short story by Lev Nikolaevic Tolstoj.Read More »

  • Frantisek Vlácil – Stín kapradiny AKA The Shadow of the Ferns (1986)

    1981-1990ArthouseCzech RepublicDramaFrantisek VlácilQueer Cinema(s)

    Synopsis
    Somewhat reminiscent of Fassbinder, in particular QUERELLE, with characters appearing as the Angels of Death, this film could be titled HANSEL AND HANSEL. The story comes from the novel by Josef Capek, and is one of Vlacil’s wordiest, more philosophical films, as two young men are caught in the woods by the gameskeeper killing a deer So they kill him as well, still another senseless act, and spend the rest of the film running away, hiding in the woods, plagued by their crimes. The two talk incessantly, pledge to never leave one another, and enter into a homosexual bond which is never actually realized, as they rarely even touch, but they can’t exist without one another. As they get deeper in the woods, memories, fantasies, and hallucinations appear more prevalent.Read More »

  • Frantisek Vlácil – Mág (1987)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaFrantisek VlácilHungary

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    IMDB Review
    This movie is the very last opus of a great Czech director Frantisek Vlácil(1924-1999; Markéta Lazarová, Valley of the Bees, Concert at the End of Summer) and it’s truly his masterpiece.

    In a breathtaking way it narrates some episodes from the life of possibly the most famous Czech poet Karel Hynek Mácha (1810-1836). Actually the title of the film “Mág” may have two meanings, the first one (a mage) refers to the talent of the deeply romantic Mácha (played by outstanding Jirí Schwarz), the second one is the contemporary transcription of Mácha’s most famous poem Máj (May).Read More »

  • Frantisek Vlácil – Dým bramborové nate AKA Smoke on the Potato Fields [+extras] (1977)

    1971-1980Czech RepublicDramaFrantisek Vlácil

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Synopsis:
    In this 1976 character study by Czech director Frantisek Vlacil, a stout middle-aged physician whose marriage has come apart (Rudolf Hrusinsky) establishes a practice in a small town. Gradually he’s drawn into the lives of his patients—a childless couple, a pregnant girl with a stern mother, the son of a duck farmer—and each relationship reveals a bit more about him and the idyllic but insular community. Vlacil is hardly known for his light touch, but the film’s austere look and elegiac chamber music, at times Bressonian in their severity, convey the doctor’s quest for fulfillment and peace of mind. Hrusinsky, who was blacklisted in Czechoslovakia for his anticommunist stance, ennobles his role by underplaying it.Read More »

  • Frantisek Vlácil – Adelheid (1970)

    1961-1970ArthouseCzech RepublicDramaFrantisek Vlácil

    The first colour film by Czech master director František Vlácil ADELHEID is an emotional tale of two lovers trapped in the march of history.

    In the aftermath of WWII, a Czech airman returns home from his tour of duty with the British RAF, intending to claim a German factory located in the Sudetenland along the Czech-German border. There he meets the beautiful Adelheid, the former owner’s daughter who once lived in the estate but is now reduced to servitude. The Czech airman falls in love with Adelheid, but lingering resentment and bitter political strife stand in the way of their happiness. (-Second Run)Read More »

  • Frantisek Vlacil – Dablova past AKA The Devil’s Trap [+Extras] (1962)

    1961-1970ArthouseCzech RepublicDramaFrantisek Vlácil

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    SYNOPSIS
    (…) Set in the 18h century when the Inquistion was still in force. A small town is one day visited by a priest who is there on a secret mission. He is a member of the Inquisition sent to investigate the activities of a local miller. The miller and his son are the descendants of an old family whose ancestral home burned down a century ago, but was rebuilt from scratch. The miller inherited much of his knowledge about the land, water, and a building’s stability from generations of family experience. His reputation for finding water and predicting when a structure might collapse have come to the attention of the Inquisition -surely he must be in league with the Devil. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie GuideRead More »

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