Special Guest: Peter Hames Guest Co-Hosts: Kat Ellinger, Kevin Heffernan
Czechtember continues with a look at Pavel Jurácek's Case for a Rookie Hangman (AKA Prípad pro zacínajícího kata) from 1970. Very loosely based on the third part of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, the film tells the tale of Lemuel Gulliver (Lubomír Kostelka) in the land of Balnibarbi, a surrealistic landscape where Lemuel has a hard time finding his footing, literally.
Special Guests: Jiri Menzel, Peter Hames Guest Co-Hosts: Jonathan Owen, Samm Deighan
We kick off the first annual "Czechtember" with a look at the most-easily accessible films of the Czech New Wave, the charmingly disarming 1966 film Closely Watched Trains (AKA Ostre Sledované Vlaky or Closely Observed Trains). Co-written and directed by Jirí Menzel and based upon Bohumil Hrabal's novella, the film stars Václav Neckár as Milos Hrma, a young man from a family of eccentrics. Not wanting to work too hard, he gets a job at the local railway station where he's mentored by the earthly Hubicka (Josef Somr) and Nazi-sympathizer Zednicek (Vlastimil Brodský).
Interviews:
Peter Hames, author of The Czechoslovak New Wave: 1:28:00 Music: "Train Round The Bend" - The Velvet Underground
Jiri Menzel, director of Closely Watched Trains: 1:43:00 Music: "Down There By The Train" - Tom Waits
Special Guest: Peter Hames Guest Co-Host: Nicholas Schlegel, Kevin Heffernan, Axel Kohagen
Continuing our discussion of fairy tales in films, we discuss Jaromil Jires's film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, the story of a young woman coming of age.
And who better to join Mike in discussing the film than Kevin Heffernan, Axel Kohagen, and Nicholas Schlegel?
This week's special guest, Peter Hames, is the author of several books about the Czech and Slovak New Wave.
Special Guest: Peter Hames
Special Guests: 
Special Guest: