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Vera Chytilova's Daisies (1966) - Second Run

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  • Vera Chytilova's Daisies (1966) - Second Run



    LA PASIÓN ESPAÑOL: THE EROTIC MELODRAMAS OF VICENTE ARANDA (1991-1999)

  • #2
    Amazon UK pre-order: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Daisies-Blu...H2K8H6AH0NH3YM
    LA PASIÓN ESPAÑOL: THE EROTIC MELODRAMAS OF VICENTE ARANDA (1991-1999)

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    • #3
      New Criterion Blu Ray coming.

      My review of the 4K restoration:


      DAISIES (1966) - Vera Chytilova's ground-breaking film has been newly restored and is playing in limited theatrical release as it heads for a Criterion Blu Ray in November. It's a superb restoration with rich textures including just enough film grain to keep it authentic looking.

      Chytilova's extraordinary film was a key component of the Czech new wave of the 60s - a movement not as famous as that of France or Italy, but all the more remarkable coming under the thumb of a communist government. Milos Forman, Ivan Passer and Jiri Menzel were the most famous of the filmmakers, but Chytilova holds a special place as the work of a strikingly original female Director (also, unlike many of her contemporaries, she never left her homeland).

      DAISIES grabs one's attention right from the opening with two young women both named Marie (Ivana Karbonova - the “blonde” and Jitka Cerhova - the “brunette”) seated and talking about how the world has gone wrong and that it's time for them to go “bad”. What follows is a series of anecdotes, seemingly disconnected montages and extended skits. The actresses are exuberant and incredibly expressive, especially with their eyes (exaggerated makeup is used to emphasize them even more). Chytilova shoots this with an almost absurdist avant-garde free-flowing flair. Color and Black & White. Various filters and tints. Jagged jump cuts. Sound effects. Discordant music. The cabaret sequence is well-choreographed and beautifully sustained. A scene involving cut-outs is as striking as anything in 60s cinema. The characters are constantly slicing and dicing objects and the Director is distoring and re-colorizing the images in all ways imaginable. Chytilova is not only experimenting with the film medium but simultaneously critiquing what the objects represent.

      At first, DAISIES may seem like Chytilova is simply making a 'girls want to be free and have fun' loose fairy-tale. And, on that level, it certainly works with the women using their wits and whiles to grift older men into giving them lavish meals and to just toy around with society in general. Food is their sex. Their drug. Chytilova herself rejected the notion that this was a feminist statement - she stressed that it was about individualism. Still, the vision of two free-spirited women acting out their desires with heedless impulsive abandon -- and with a female director at the helm certainly evokes so much. This is a classic that isn't a homework for the viewer. It's as joyous now as it was 50+ years ago.

      Slyly, over time (the movie is only 74 minutes long), Chytilova's true themes emerge. The Daisies' endless food appetite is clearly a metaphor of how the communist elites used their power and influence to gorge themselves at the expense of the proletarians. The crusty old ruling class embodied by the bumbling old fools the women scam. The symbolism is quite open in the grand set-piece - a huge glutenous buffet laid out in a large banquet hall. The Daisies finally have found their seats at the table.

      It's hardly a shock to find out that the government banned the film, despite its international success. The irony that the state banned DAISIES because it wasted food is one for the ages. Of course, Chytilova had the last laugh. DAISIES endures, as does the spirit of the dual Maries.


      DAISIES is in limited release with a new Blu Ray of this restoration coming in November. The previous restoration is available to stream on HBO Max, Kanopy and Criterion Channel as well as for rent.










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      • #4
        Saw this on TCM and it is awesome. A lotta fun.

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