Jan Nemec Movies
Czech filmmaker Jan Nemec, one of the key figures in his country's new wave movement, was best known for his daring, intense journeys into the psychological processes of his characters that also served to give provocative insight into political oppression and family life. He was also fascinated with the elusive nature of memory. Nèmec made an auspicious professional debut by winning a prize at a student film festival in Amsterdam with his short film A Loaf of Bread (1969), a film he made around the time he was studying at the Prague film school. While serving in the military in 1963, Nèmec made the short documentary The Memory of Our Day. The following year he made his feature-film debut with Diamonds of the Night, a fascinating exploration of the experiences of two Jewish escapees from a train bound for a concentration camp. They end up in a small town where they are caught stealing bread and are sentenced to be executed. Fortunately, the villagers discover that none of them have the stomach for such violence. In the West, one of Nèmec's best known films was Report on the Party and the Guests (1966) a controversial, unflinching satire of communist ideals versus brutal reality. Nèmec continued to be a successful filmmaker through the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, an event he chronicled that year in his film Oratorio for Prague. He did not make another film until 1974 after he had been allowed to emigrate to France. Nèmec has also worked as an actor, screenwriter and a cinematographer. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi- 2009
Jan Nemec, one of the leading filmmakers of the Czech New Wave of the 1960s, looks back at a crucial moment in his history as well as that of his country in this historical drama. In August 1968, the Soviet Union rolled into Czechoslovakia with tanks, determined to halt the reform movement that had begun months before in what became known as "Prague Spring." As the Czechs mounted a short-lived offense against the Soviet Forces, Nemec captured as much of the battle on film as he could, and then he made a dangerous journey into Austria to smuggle the footage to the west, accompanied by Enrico, an Italian journalist, and Jana, Nemec's girlfriend and an actress often described as the sexiest woman in Czechoslovakia. In Holka Harrari Dino (aka The Ferrari Dino Girl), Nemec intercuts his footage of the 1968 Soviet Invasion with staged re-enactments of his run to Austria as he revisits the tragedy of the Soviet occupation, the excitement of his escape, and his deep love for Jana. The Ferrari Dino Girl was an official selection at the 2009 Rotterdam International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 1997
Director Jan Nemec was one of the leading figures of the Czech New Wave of the 1960s, making a number of acclaimed features (most notably O Slavnosti a Hostech) before emigrating to France in 1974, which -- at least for a time -- signaled the end of his career as a director. Jmeno kodu: Rubin was Nemec's first dramatic feature after returning to his native Czechoslovakia following the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Prague has long been a center for the practice of alchemy, and in Jmeno kodu: Rubin two young people, Michal (Jan Potmesil) and Ruby (Lucie Rejchrtova), search the city for the mystic stone of a noted philosopher. The story examines the past and how it influences present actions, as Nemec blends fiction, documentary footage, and archive material into a cinematic mélange that blends history with speculation about the future. Jmeno kodu: Rubin was completed in 1997 but did not receive its United States release until 1999. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 1988
Filmmaker Jan Nemec and his crew risked their lives to create this historic documentary account of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. The award-winning work is the only filmed record of the invasion. Oratorio for Prague began as a study of the liberalization of Czechoslovakia and then continued when the Russian forces moved in. The gripping footage was broadcast by television, providing the first report of the event. In addition to the news footage, the film features never-before-viewed scenes taken prior to the invasion that crushed Prague's anti-Communist movement.
~ Sally Barber, Rovi
~ Sally Barber, Rovi
- 1987
- R
- Add '68 to Queue
Set in the late '60s in tumultuous San Francisco, a Hungarian immigrant family struggles to define their individual roles in the rapidly changing world around them. The father starts a cafe while one son becomes politically active, joining the Robert Kennedy campaign. A second son enlists in the Army, discovers he's gay, and joins the anti-Vietnam movement. This independently made film is a scattershot attempt at touching the many divisive issues of the times. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Eric Larson, Robert Locke, (more)
- 1967
This romance is comprised of three tales representing different aspects of love: temptation, dreams, and adventure. In the first, an introverted clerk takes his savings to paint the town red and winds up with a woman in his bed. Unfortunately, she is only interested in sleeping. Still he is tempted... In the second, a waitress on a train dreams of being a maid pursuing a singer. He rejects her, and she then falls for a medical officer who proposes. She gets frightened and jumps on a train where she meets a flirtatious gypsy. In the final tale, an orphan is invited to a garden party where he is treated like an old friend by the wealthy guests. There he meets a wonderful woman. The next day he goes back to see her. Unfortunately he cannot find the garden, his friends, or the girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1966
This experimental Czechoslovakian film seems disturbingly akin to the works of Spain's Luis Bunuel. A group of happy picnickers runs afoul of Jan Klusak, a bullying sadist who has some sort of unbreakable hold over his followers. Klusak subjects the picnickers to a cruel psychological game, wherein he plays interrogator. The ordeal comes to a brief end when a stranger (Ivan Vyskocil) arrives, apologizes for Klusak, and invites everyone to an elegant, formal outdoor banquet. But the bizarre "fun and games" continue, ending with the group embarking on a fully armed hunting party in search of a missing guest. Built on the premise of unquestioning conformity, Report on the Party and the Guests (O Slavnosti a Hostech) was a typically iconoclastic effort from the husband-and-wife director-screenwriter team of Jan Nemec and Ester Krumbachova. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ivan Vyskocil, Jan Klusak, (more)
Five directors team up for this drama that strings the stories together in one 105-minute Czech feature. "Mr. Baltazar's Death" is directed by Jiri Menzel. Jan Nemec directs "The Imposters" in which two elderly men nearing death keep themselves alive by telling each other lies about their careers. In Elward Schorm's "The House Of Happiness," an insurance agent flees from the home of an eccentric painter when he believes his mother is a witch. In "The Snack Bar," directed by Vera Chvtilova, a young woman's body is found after she has committed suicide. The final feature, "Romance" directed by Jaromi Jires, involves a young man having an affair with a carefree gypsy woman before she returns to her traveling tribe. The feature marks the emergence of five young directors who show that Czechoslovakia has made leaps and bound in the quality and technical aspects of filmmaking as of 1965. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ferdinand Kruta
- 1964
Diamonds of the Night is set in Czechoslovakia during World War II. Ladislav Jansky and Antonin Kumbera play two Jewish youths who escape from a concentration camp-bound train. Captured by local peasants on a charge of stealing bread, the boys are sentenced to a firing squad. It turns out that the villagers have no real stomach for killing, and the boys merely go through the motions of a mock execution. They are let go, and continue their journey to freedom. Diamonds of the Night was originally released as Demanty Noci. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ladislav Jansky, Antonin Kumbera, (more)
