Január 2018: Perličky na dně, Farářův konec, Psi a lidé
Jan Klusák patrí medzi menej nápadné osobnosti československej hudby, no nepochybne sa ťažko nájde niekto, kto by nepoznal minimálne hlavné motívy k televíznemu seriálu Nemocnice na kraji města. K filmu sa dostal cez kompozíciu scénickej hudby pre Divadlo na Zábradlí. Do nášho cyklu sme zaradili tri filmy, ku ktorým skomponoval hudbu: zásadný poviedkový koncept československej novej vlny Perličky na dně (Menzel, Němec, Schorm, Chytilová, Jireš) a dve diela režiséra Evalda Schorma, s ktorým najčastejšie spolupracoval: Farářův konec a Psi a lidé.
Jozef Červenka
Set against the backdrop of a repressed Czechoslovakia, five non-related vignettes are presented, each showcasing the need and want for human connection. In "Mr. Baltazar's Death", a middle aged couple who are experts at mechanics, travel to a motorcycle race where they congregate with the masses on the section of the course where historically there has been the most action of the destructive kind. In "Imposters", two elderly hospital patients talk about their past professional glories as a journalist and light opera star respectively. Each man wants to hear about the other more than tell his own story for good reason. In "The House of Joy", two national insurance agents believe they have an easy sale when they visit an elderly goat farmer/amateur painter, who uses whatever surface as his canvass, and paints his life and his dreams. But the sale will not be as easy as the men first believe it will be. In "The Restaurant the World", a wedding reception is taking place in one part of a busy self-serve diner. The reception guests are oblivious to the sadness of real life taking place all around their small current vacuum of a world, with the bride determined to make the most of *her* night. And in "Romance", a working class lad, out on the town on his own, is mesmerized by a young Romani girl. Show more
Besides Zločin v šantánu (Crime in the Nightclub), in 1968 the writer Josef Škvorecký also contributed to the bitter comedy Farářův konec (The End of a Priest) as the author of the original idea and screenwriter. Together with the director Evald Schorm, he created a story whose protagonist is an inept sexton, who decides to leave his job in a big church in the city. He sets off for a new life in a remote mountain village, where by coincidence people are desperately looking for a priest to administer the last rites to someone. At first, the sexton tries in vain not to be considered part of a “miracle,” but in the end he reconciles himself to the role of new spiritual pastor – and because he performs the job judiciously with an understanding of human weakness, the quirky villagers soon take him to their hearts. The local schoolmaster, who is propagating an atheist education in the spirt of communist ideas, is strongly averse to this. Until now, he had been the village community’s celebrity. The self-assuredness of “healthy reason,” which the manipulative and careerist schoolmaster crows about, stands against the faith of a simple man who has humbly taken a coveted task upon himself. The teacher tries to discredit this false priest of obvious moral authority. Ultimately, he denounces him and causes a tragic finale… In The End of a Priest, Evald Schorm used a “theatre” framework – just like he did in his subsequent film Den sedmý – osmá noc (The Seventh Day – the Eighth Night, 1969). Whereas in The End of a Priest, a group of fairground comedians presents the plot of a modern broadside ballad, it is again possible to see it as a Passion Play that is a parable about the Soviet occupation. In both instances, it concerns a variation on the fate of Jesus. Škvorecký’s idea, however, is based on a newspaper article from that time about a man who pretended to be a priest somewhere in the Eagle Mountains. The meaningful setting of the story is a Czech village in the 1950s which becomes an allegory for the totalitarian system. Vlastimil Brodský and Jan Libíček excel in the lead roles in Schorm’s masterpiece. Josef Škvorecký himself played the small role of a professor appearing on television. >filmovyprehled.cz Show more
The onset of “normalisation” saw the shelving of the filmography of one of the most prominent writer-directors of the Czechoslovak New Wave, Evald Schorm (1931–1988). Schorm instead turned to a parade of television projects. These concluded in 1988 with the drama Vlastně se nic nestalo (Nothing Really Happened, AKA Killing with Kindness, 1988). The only exception is this short film project which Schorm took over after the original author, Vojtěch Jasný, emigrated. The story Nahý v trní (In a Sorry Plight) tells of a man whose carefree bathing in a river is ruined by a stray dog. In Hry lásky (Love Games) an amateur painter gets into difficulties because he worries too much about his schnauzer Rafik. In the third story, entitled Věrnost (Faithfulness), two friends’ rivalry ends with the death of a loyal, devoted pet... Although the three tales were written by Jasný, Schorm adapted them according to his authorial viewpoint. In these tales of the relations between people and dogs, he underscored themes of ordinary morality vainly fighting for survival in a world of human cruelty and ruthlessness. >filmovyprehled.cz Show more
