Juraj Jakubisko Movies
Versatile and highly esteemed Slovak director Juraj Jakubisko specializes in films that, within a variety of genres, reflect or comment upon Slovak culture. Before entering the film industry, Jakubisko taught still photography at a Bratislava secondary school for applied arts. He later worked for Czech television in Kosice before attending Prague's film school, studying direction under Vaclav Wasserman. After graduating in 1965, Jakubisko worked with Alfred Radok at the Laterna Magika theater in Prague and began winning international acclaim with his experimental short films before he made his first feature film, Kristove Roky/The Crucial Years, in 1967. As with many of his subsequent features, Jakubisko co-wrote the script. Following his feature debut, Jakubisko made three features, the last of which, Vtackovia, Siroty a Blazni/Orphans and Fools (1969), was only shown at Sorrento (Italy), and then shelved until 1991. After that, Jakubisko was banned from feature filmmaking for 15 years. During that period, he occupied himself by making a few short documentaries, though in 1976 he made Tri Vrecia Cementu a Zivy Kohut/Three Sacks of Cement and a Living Cock, which was not released until 1978. He made his official return to filmmaking in 1979 with Postav Dom, Zasad'strom/Build a House, Plant a Tree. Jakubisko earned international acclaim in 1983 with Tisicrocna Vcela/The Thousand Year Old Bee, and won further acclaim and international awards in 1997 for Nejasná zpráva o konci sveta/An Ambiguous Report About the End of the World. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 2008
The infamous Countess Erzsebet Bathory, who is said to have maintained youth and beauty into her old age by bathing in the blood of virgins, has her life story told in a more balanced but still provocative manner in this grand-scale historical drama. Bathory, played by Anna Freil, is portrayed in three important episodes from her life. Bathory falls in love with the legendary artist Caravaggio (Hans Matheson) and attempts to win his heart, which doesn't much amuse her husband Ferenc Nadasy (Vincent Regan). Later, Bathory becomes close friends with Darvulia (Deana Jakubiskova), a woman said to have remarkable healing powers, as observers remark upon Bathory's beauty which seems impervious to the passage of time or the stress of her life. And after the death of her husband, Bathory rises to a position of political power in Hungary, as Palatine Thurzo (Karel Roden) leads a plot to scuttle her ambitions. Bathory also features Bolek Polivka as a monk who narrates the countess's remarkable story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Friel, Vincent Regan, (more)
- 1997
Set over a two-decade period in a tiny Central European village, this drama not only chronicles a couple's tragic star-crossed love, it also serves as a metaphor for the tragedy of lost traditions. After opening in the snowy wilds as two people spectacularly die, the story jumps back 20 years as young Verona prepares to marry. Unfortunately, voracious wolves descend upon the ceremony and all but Verona and her courageous 10-year-old brother-in-law Goran, who saves her, perish. That day, Verona gives birth to Veronika and promptly betroths her daughter to the heroic Goran. A decade passes and on Veronika's 10th birthday, her engagement to Goran is formally announced at a big party. Festivities halt when a troupe of female circus performers and their sly employer Madina show up. Veronika soon finds herself more interested in Madina's young son Michal than she is in the adult Goran. Meanwhile, the worldly Madina attempts to adjust to life in an old-fashioned village. His attempts to have the best of both worlds leads to the murder of Michal and an increasing gap between Goran and Veronika. Following Michal's death, Goran and Veronika have their wedding ceremony. Another series of disasters leads to the couple's final tragedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Nona (Dea Horvathova) and Esther (Dagmar Veskrnova) led fairly conventional lives before their country was liberated from the yoke of decades of communist rule. However, now that the politics have changed, so has their society: their husbands have run away from them for no apparent reason. The two women turn to each other for support, and together they dream of attaining great wealth - after all, making a lot of money is now an acceptable ambition. In this comedy, Nona schemes to find ways to make it possible for the lovely, blonde Esther to take advantage of her beauty, and the two of them manage to have a lot of humorous adventures as one after another of their schemes falls flat. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dagmar Veskrnova, Juraj Kukura, (more)
- 1989
In postwar Czechoslovakia, Pepe (Boleslav Polivka) and Prengel (Ondrej Pavelka) become friends and then business partners by a series of odd coincidences which have put them in possession of a bicycle filled with gold. They set up shop as bakers in an old mansion which formerly belonged to a wealthy Jew. A mute, traumatized and pregnant red-headed woman (Marketa Hrubesova) turns up on their doorstep. She strongly resembles the daughter of the the man who used to own the mansion. She is so beautiful and helpless that both men are smitten with her. Somehow the rivalry between them is dealt with, and they live together with the woman happily, until the dark shadows of Stalinist control of the country begin to loom. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boleslav Polívka, Ondrej Pavelka, (more)
- 1985
This version of an old fairy tale is the second in 20 years (there was a 1954 West German film on the same subject) and is a charming rendering of Frau Holle, who sits on high and watches over humankind and the seasons and one day adopts young Jakob as her assistant. Jakob was part of a travelling circus obliterated by an avalanche and owes his new life to Frau Holle. But back on earth, a certain Elizabeth is being persecuted by an evil stepmother and two sisters, and Jakob is intent on turning that situation around. To achieve his aims, he becomes mortal and returns to earth -- but now Death, taking on the form of a decrepit hag, stalks Jakob. It is up to Frau Holle to save her former ward and see that his mission is completed.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giulietta Masina, Valerie Kaplanova, (more)
- 1983
In this ambitious project of laying bare the lives of a village family over a 30-year period before, during, and after World War I, director Juraj Jakubisko has perhaps lost the outline of the woods in the beauty of each tree. Part I focuses on the ups and downs and the sensual life of an older bricklayer and beekeeper, and Part II focuses on his sons and their involvement in a family flour mill, politics, and World War I. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stefan Kvietik, Josef Kroner, (more)
- 1980
Director Juraj Jakubisko resurfaces after a hiatus with this potent drama about Pavel (Josef Matus) an independent young man who defies the conventional wisdom. He rides freight trains wherever he feels like going and one day hops off a freight to land in a village he likes. It does not take him long to fall for Helena (Jana Siniakova) the divorced daughter of the head of the village, and though she reciprocates his feelings, her father is against their relationship. Ignoring his opposition, Pavel gets people together to help him build a house for Helena and her little boy. The trouble is, Pavel also ignores propriety in obtaining materials for the house and on top of everything, Helena's father decides he is not going to sit back and accept what is going on. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ondrej Pavelka
- 1970
Curiously, communist authorities in Eastern Bloc countries frequently allowed "subversive" films to be made, but then withheld them from circulation. Only rarely was production of one of these halted in mid-stream. This is one of those rare films that were begun and then stopped. The director completed it twenty years later, and showed it at the Venice Film Festival in 1990. However, the aging process has also dimmed the memories of the insults to dignity which the film skewers, so that the full meaning of the film is likely only to be accessible to Slovaks who lived through the late '60s and the '70s in that country. The original story, an edenic ménage à trois is broken up by the appearance of people from outside its happy confines. This romance is framed by a story (the '80s footage) in which one of the members of that original trio has been ejected from his antique car during an accident, and is lying in the snow recalling the better days of his youth. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olinka Berova, Nino Besozzi, (more)
- 1969
The horrors of war are the subject of this Czech anthology film consisting of three vignettes. The first is set during WW I. It follows the course of a gypsy who deserts the army to return to his town for a wedding. To protect himself, he dresses up as a woman. Unfortunately, the hussar spots him and kills him. Another deserter, witnessing the killing, starts a peasant revolt. They are massacred by more hussars. The massacre is quite graphic, and Gypsy music plays as the peasants die. The second episode begins as Russian partisans kill an old man suspected of being a German spy. They then learn that the war is over. Celebrations ensue until a German patrol, not knowing of the war's end, cuts them down. The final episode follows the search of two nuclear holocaust survivors to find other people. They find no one and eventually die of grief. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1969
In this symbolic tragedy, two men and a woman act like children in the aftermath of war. They care for each other but often revert to selfishness, as all social structure and morality have been shattered by the conflict. When the girl runs off with one man, the other tracks down the departed duo and kills her. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Avron, Juraj Kukura, (more)
- 1967
Although the title would indicate this feature has a religious theme, it refers only to men between the ages of 30 and 33. Juraj (Jiri Sykora) is a recent graduate of the art institute who is uncertain about his future as a painter. His brother Andrej (Vlado Mueller) is the businessman who has the confidence his brother lacks but is troubled by his strained marriage to his wife. Juraj falls for his brother's wife, while Andrej falls for Juraj's girl Jana (Jana Hernova), but Andrej's death in a car crash puts an end to the two unconventional love affairs. The appeal of the film is the interaction of the two brothers that strikes a resounding note of familiarity to any audience. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
