During the Eastern European viewing challenge on ICM, I've been keeping a look out for any "new" titles appearing online. Having found Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (1977-also reviewed) to be a hilarious, invented Comedy,I was thrilled to find a Noir by director Jindrich Polak recently got Eng Subs,which led to me playing a game with no rules.
Note:Some spoilers in review.
View on the film:
Breaking in with a 8 minute robbery,the skill co-writer/(with Vaclav Sasek and Ludek Stanek) director Jindrich Polak later showed in the staging of physical comedy in 1977's Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea is on display here in the dialogue-free opening sequence, as Polak runs down the streets of Prague to the thieves staking out the jeweler's shop, who Polak follows by circling them on screen, (a clever precursor to the photos the cops are later shown to have)and grabbing them out of the middle of real crowds with swift wide-shot zoom-ins. Driving to the beat of Wiliam Bukovy's outstanding blend of Hard Jazz/ Electronic score, Polak & cinematographer Rudolf Milic shine a diamond Film Noir atmosphere,lit by intense close-ups on the faces of the robbers, covered with scars over the passage of time since the robbery, joined by crisp tracking shots diving into the shadows which the thieves try to remain under.
Playing the game over 4 years (the movie skips to "Four years later") the screenplay by Polak/Sasek and Stanek weighs the passage of time down on criminologist Malek,whose inability to get all the thieves found guilty leaves Malek with a itch which leads him to cross lines and leave blood on the tracks. Going their own ways after the robbery, each gang members attempt to remain under cover becomes thrillingly splintered from mistrust seeping on from one dying during the getaway, to tense paranoia,from Malek continuing to press on and fight to get closer to them. Firming holding his ground over the passing of time, Svatopluk Matyas brings out a gripping slow-burn intensity into Malek's growing obsession leaving him as the lone figure trying to stop a game without rules.
