June 2 - June 16:
“The Chief Just Voted” - Milos Forman’s Democracy
Before Jack Nicholson’s R. P. McMurphy tore a hole in America’s psychiatric system in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Milos Forman (1932-) was a celebrated filmmaker in his homeland & a prominent member of the Czech New Wave; that is until The Firemen’s Ball was banned in 1968. His three Czech features, Black Peter, Loves of a Blonde & The Firemen’s Ball introduced a very particular brand of comic genius & became anthems for the youth of Eastern Europe. Black Peter was an instant hit on the film festival circuit & the other two were nominated for Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
Forman was born of dissident stock. His father was in the Underground movement & his mother was arrested by the Gestapo for subversive activities. Forman was orphaned at the age of 11 after both were killed at Auschwitz. The young director left Czechoslovakia in 1968 – the year that the troops of the Warsaw Pact entered the country, Firemen’s Ball was banned, & he was invited to make his first US feature (Taking Off). This season of specially imported 35mm prints is a carefully assembled album of Forman’s earlier career from the first glimmers of brilliance to his Oscar-studded entry onto the world stage.
The Embassy of the Czech Republic.
7:00 - LOVES OF A BLONDE
Milos Forman (1965) 88 mins
Forman deploys the semi-documentary style of the French New Wave to tell the poignant story of a principled worker in a small town shoe factory (Hana Brejchova) who spends the night with a visiting musician. Infused with an extraordinarily acute sense of humour & sympathy, Forman’s international breakthrough is “an amazing balancing act of subtle social satire & adolescent romantic longing, of blank despair & irrepressible hope” (Dave Kehr). This formative but adventurous work is probably the defining film of the director’s ’60s Czechoslovakian career.
35mm print courtesy of Narodni Filmovy Archiv.
8:45 - TAKING OFF
Milos Forman (1971) 93 mins M
Operating on the insight that satire often has more than a piecemeal relation to earnestness, Forman’s first American film is a generation gap comedy consisting of a loosely-edited thread of almost deadpan set-pieces based around the story of a runaway teenage girl (Linnea Heacock) who sneaks out of her middle-class New York home to attend a live audition for a record label. Her concerned parents, Larry (Buck Henry) & Lynn Tyne (Lynn Carlin), take measures to find their daughter, reliving the realities of adolescent irresponsibility. Features a performance by Ike & Tina Turner.
35mm print courtesy of the NBC Universal Film Archive.
7:00 - ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST
Milos Forman (1975) 133 mins M
Sentenced to a short term in jail, Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) decides to feign madness & take it easy in a psychiatric institution where he unexpectedly encounters his nemesis, nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). Widely acclaimed as a masterpiece of American cinema, Forman’s breakthrough work is a fine adaptation of Ken Kesey’s acclaimed 1962 novel & was the first film in 41 years to win in all the major categories of Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress & Screenplay at the 1975 Academy Awards. With Brad Dourif, Danny DeVito & Christopher Lloyd.
35mm print courtesy of The Academy Film Archive.
9:30 - THE FIREMEN’S BALL
Milos Forman (1967) 71 mins PG
Forman’s last Czech film before leaving for the US is a widely acclaimed satire of a small town’s annual firemen’s ball – based on actual events witnessed by the director & his co-scriptwriters (Ivan Passer & Jaroslav Papousek) – that drifts inexorably into chaos. A perceived allegory of state corruption that features a combination of professional actors & actual firemen, it was banned during the crackdown that followed the Prague Spring. 40,000 firemen reportedly resigned in protest until the film’s meaning was explained to them!
35mm print courtesy of Narodni Filmovy Archiv.
7:00 - BLACK PETER
Milos Forman (1964) 85 mins
Forman’s full feature debut is a keenly observed coming-of-age comedy. Malcontent teen Petr, described by The New York Times as “a kind of inarticulate first cousin” to Jean-Pierre Léaud’s Antoine Doinel, takes a job as a store detective & pursues shoplifters with the same ineptitude he applies to courting his girl.
35mm print courtesy of Narodni Filmovy Archiv.
8:35 - KONKURS
Milos Forman (1964) 85 mins
Heralding the beginning of his collaboration with co-screenwriter Ivan Passer, “Audition” is also a key early work of the Czech New Wave. Forman’s first major film is a delicately rendered mix of cinéma vérité & quiet drama with two distinct parts splits between an orchestral rehearsal and performance to highlight a clash of tradition and modernity. A playful & fascinating document of Czechoslovakia’s complex cultural history.
35mm print courtesy of Narodni Filmovy Archiv.
10:00 - A WELL-PAID WALK
Milos Forman & Ján Rohác (1966) 73 mins
A bickering couple pretend to be happy in order to gain an inheritance. Forman filmed the subversive Semafor Theatre’s performance of this comic opera for TV in the mid-1960s & it remains one of his least seen films outside its country of origin. A collaboration with writer Jir Suchy & composer Jir Slitr, it highlights his preoccupation with music (in this case jazz), a defining feature of many of his American films.