Postava k podpírání

Excellent film. It's important to say that the film is not really known in Czech republic. I saw it recently on TV, as the film based on Juracek's diary ("Klíc k urcování trpaslíku podle deníku Pavla Jurácka"). It make us understand that his work was very very difficult under the communist regime, he was excluded from the national film committee and the fact that he could direct a film like "Postava k podpirani" appears like a miracle. The film itself opens into a really strange universe (references to Kafka are obvious but quite personal), so close to real 60s' in Czechoslovak society. The film form is very free (treatment of space, montage, very exceptional use of the sound !). By facilities, Juracek is sometimes associated to the new wave (nouvelle vague), but I think that his quite personal universe and cinematographic style make him stand apart of any movement or "style school". He remains a hero, one of the artists whose life and work was broken by political power.

A man is searching for someone named Josef Kilian who is proving elusive to say the least. Whilst searching he passes a 'rent-a-cat' shop, goes inside and duly rents one. When the time comes to return it he finds the shop is no longer there. Concerned with being charged a penalty for an overdue cat the man goes from one official to another and trudges along an endless maze of corridors to no avail. Still lumbered with the moggy he recognises a man in a restaurant who resembles Kilian. This turns out to be 'mistaken identity'(or is it?) and when the other man gets up to go he too is carrying a cat. Written and directed by Paval Juracek and Jan Schmidt this bizarre, surreal piece takes us into a Kafkaesque world in which anonymity is the norm and people are resigned to living under a crushing bureaucracy. Is it coincidental that the leading character in Kafka's 'The Trial' is named Josef K? I think not. Although not an easy watch this is a highly inventive piece with excellent sound effects and suitably anarchic music. Kuracek and Schmidt have crammed as much as they can into its thirty-eight minute length. Juracek had been treading on thin ice for years and the biting satire of his 1970 film 'Case for a Rookie Hangman' proved too much for the Czech authorities. It was banned and so, alas, was he!

An extremely dull film. It's even complete with gimmicks such as rewinding the play so you can watch the cat jump off the couch multiple times. Apparently other commentators have been fooled into thinking this nonsense is genius. The premise is trivial and there's nothing subtle about the execution. It drags on forever and is a relief when it's finally finished.

This film is just excellent. I never thought that this would be such a great one, since it was the first chech film I saw. I just went to see it because I was told that this was very influenced by Kafka's work. And I was truly surprised. This is by far the best representation of Kafka's ideas in motion pictures. Far better than Orson Wells' "Le Próces" or any other movies like that. I saw it in Cinemateca Portuguesa and probably I'll never come so see it again, because it's so rare. I just don't understand how films like this (like all the others films by Juracek) continue completely unknown and probably there are only 20 or 30 people in Portugal that have seen it. It's a shame. See also "Prípad pro Zacínajícího Kata. 10/10

Tears of joy when it was over cause it was too darn sickening and so long even with its 38 minutes. Forget about its ultimate pretense in trying to bring a Kafkaesque setting into a moderated hidden criticism on Czechoslovakia's and the Communist regime; what hurt the most was not seeing "inspired by the works of Franz Kafka" in the movie's screenplay opening titles. In some countries it's known as "Joseph Kilian", obvious reference but not used to the fullest here, with a story involving a man who's trying to find the title character for reasons unknown, and gets trapped into bureaucratic obstacles, among them he suddenly gets the urge of going to a shop where he can rent a cat. Purpose? None, I guess.

Usually, whether being inspired by or being a work based on Kafka, you can't go wrong. The aesthetics, the references, everything is easily recognizable and can be greatly used...as long the director knows what to do with those, and he or she is fully aware of how to compose everything. The duo Pavel Jurácek and Jan Schmidt never got me fully invested in this story, nothing made sense, neither the Kafka's channeling, neither their critique on their nation, also homeland of Mr. Kafka - the then Austria-Hungary. It's so lifeless, with minor bits of dark humor, voiceless. What's the idea behind all the confusion? Man is superior to the animal because he can be more submissive, reflects one character and that seems the only deep part of the movie. If there's symbols, they're all flawed, lacking in substance and a proper use of the absurd. The monochromatic hue was perfect along with some optical effects that made me remember of "The Metamorphosis", a scene where a character is carrying a huge object through the stairs but it feels like it's a giant insect climbing those same stairs.

Apart from some minor qualities, here's a movie that won't stick in your memory. Pity. 4/10