Film & Documentary
September 8, 2022 • View in browser
A Feminist Film Classic That Has Its Cake and Eats It Too
With its recent 4k restoration, Daisies endures as a New Wave masterpiece and hyper-feminine smorgasbord of sensory pleasure. | Eileen G'Sell
Rejecting both linear narrative and social realism, Daisies deflowers staid notions of Soviet-era filmmaking just as it giddily subverts the notion that a movie about giggly teenage girls cannot be serious. No matter Chytilová’s claim that Daisies was intended as a “moral fable,” part of what is so fetching about this film today is that its anarchic ladies nearly get away with it all.
Support Hyperallergic's independent journalism
Become a member today to help keep our reporting and criticism free and accessible to all.
FROM THE ARCHIVE
From The Cremator (1966), dir. Juraj Herz (image courtesy MUBI)
The Cinematic Gems of the Czechoslovak New Wave
From Vera Chytilová’s kaleidoscopic Daisies to Juraj Herz’s grim The Cremator, here’s where to start streaming. | Ela Bittencourt
There couldn’t be a better time to dive into the gems of the Czechoslovak New Wave, associated with directors like Jan Němec and animator Jan Švankmajer. Multiple streaming platforms have programs dedicated to this movement, produced during Czechoslovakia’s brief political thaw in the 1960s. Here are some great films to start with.
Revisiting the Surreal Films of Juraj Herz, a Pioneer of Czech Horror
Herz’s films remain the gold standard of what horror cinema can achieve. | Sohan Gadre
A Czech Filmmaker Who Portrayed Eastern Bloc Life Through Women’s Eyes
A comprehensive look at Vera Chytilová’s incisive critiques of gender, family, and love. | Ela Bittencourt
