An urban jungle, smoking cigarettes, French blinds, lingering shadows, and a mysterious anti-hero at the forefront of a crime story all may or may not carry the label "noir". Noir Film Festival is a film showcase that has been held in the Czech Republic since 2013, bringing its fans the best of the world's film production in the noir genre. It is the only festival of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe. This year's NFF Echoes brings a diverse selection of quality and popular films to six Czech cities, combining both shocking and unspectacular themes and captivating (often black and white) visuals.
Awaiting you at Kino TELEGRAPH from Monday 29 November to Wednesday 1 December is a selection of a trio of films that, while beautifully linked by the noir label, could not individually be more dissimilar, either in terms of the film's time period or country of origin. Thus, this three-day film showcase offers audiences a diverse and varied probe into one of the most significant cinematic tendencies that has helped shape and guide film history going forward.
VAROVÁNÍ PŘED BOUŘKOU / STORM WARNING(English friendly)
The star of Hollywood musicals and romantic comedies, actress, dancer and singer Ginger Rogers and her eleven years younger colleague Doris Day appeared as sisters in the 1951 socially engaged Warner Bros. Storm Warning. Producer Jerry Wald set the pair of women's predicament in a small town in the American South, where the Ku Klux Klan rules with a heavy hand, plagued by xenophobia and pervasive fear. A local prosecutor with the face of future US President Ronald Reagan fiercely fights back against a fanatical mob of old-timers like a lone cowboy. The thick atmosphere of hatred, manipulation and rape culture escalates into a frustrating climax that seems to return us to the Middle Ages.
BACK
The fact that noir tendencies were also reflected in the Czechoslovak context is evidenced by the psychological drama written by director Karel Kachyna with his court screenwriter, author Jan Procházka. Seventeen-year-old Božka lives with her father Martin in a small hotel in the Ore Mountains. They are staying there with drillers from a geological survey who are looking for tin in the surrounding areas. Bozka admires the chauffeur, Gaba, a young man who spends his free time on trips - mostly to see married ladies - and who disdains the naive girl. Later, however, he ceases to care about Bozha's deep and sincere affection. But an emotionally damaged young man and a girl in love for the first time cannot find their way to each other so easily... This lyrical film about a young girl's first emotional enchantment is the middle film in a loose trilogy by Kachyně and Procházka, the other "parts" being 1961's Trápení and 1964's High Wall.
The Man Who Wasn't There(English friendly)
This Coen Brothers film from the early 2000s follows the story of Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton), a bored hairdresser living in the small town of Santa Rosa somewhere in Southern California in the late 1940s. His wife Doris (Frances McDormand) works at the local shop and secretly prefers the intimate company of her boss. Ed simply has no reason to be satisfied with his heretofore frustrated life. One day, a man named Creighton Tolliver comes to cut Ed's hair. He confides in Ed his secret dream - to start a large chain of dry cleaners. But without the initial capital of ten thousand dollars, it's still just a dream. Each scene builds the next, one surprise after another explodes with ruthless logic, each shot is chosen for maximum effect, the enigmatic face of B. B. Thornton's face is deeply etched in the memory - all of this together is called directorial virtuosity.
By Michael Bukovansky
