Michael Brooke
13-11-2001, 10:14
Just got back from a blissful holiday in Prague with an armful of Czech DVDs. I bought titles pretty much at random, and thankfully (at least according to the IMDB) I seem to have chosen reasonably well - either that or (more likely) they're only releasing their best stuff on DVD just yet, which makes a lot of sense.
Although Prague DVD outlets were sometimes impressively well stocked, on closer examination at least 95% (probably more) were the usual Hollywood titles, but closer examination (helped immeasurably by one shop separating them out) revealed a few Czech films unavailable elsewhere.
Curiously enough, there doesn't appear to be any back-catalogue stuff available yet - everything I bought was strictly 1997-2001 vintage, and for anything earlier you'll have to look westwards, to Criterion (<I>The Shop on Main Street, Closely Watched Trains</I> - both of which I can recommend: the transfer on the former is particularly good), Kino (<I>Faust, Conspirators of Pleasure</I>) or Image (<I>The Puppet Films of Jiri Trnka</I>). Fingers crossed this is merely short-term, though, as the VHS shelves were groaning with titles from Czech cinema's golden era (roughly 1963-69), so there's clearly a market out there.
The most pleasant discovery was that with just one exception, every single Czech film on DVD comes with optional English subtitles. Even better, all three of the discs I've so far explored come with English-language menus and often (though not always) offer subtitles on the extras as well.
The major linguistic exception, bizarrely enough, appears to be the Oscar-winning <I>Kolja</I>, which I assume is down to it being a very early Czech DVD release (it even comes in a standard CD-style jewel case), and in any case this film is far more likely to receive a subtitled Western release than any of the other titles I bought.
Anyway, titles that will hopefully be reviewed over the next fortnight include the following:
<UL><LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0246608">Angel Exit</A> (Vladimir Michalek, 2000)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0120469">Bringing Up Girls In Bohemia</A> (Petr Koliha, 1997)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0167331">Cosy Dens</A> (Jan Hrebejk, 1999)
(<I>very favourable initial impression - decent transfer, English menus, subtitles on the 15-minute featurette, though not on the trailers, and excellent biographies that filled in a lot of gaps.</I>)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0234288">Divided We Fall</A> (Jan Hrebejk, 2000)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0219288">>Loners</A> (David Ondricek, 2000)
(<I>looks very polished - animated menus, good-looking transfer, 5.1 sound and many extras available in English</I>)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0256676">Out of the City</A> (Tomas Vorel, 2000)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0247657">Rebelove</A> (Filip Renc, 2001)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0163019">Sekal Has To Die</A> (Vladimir Michalek, 1997)
and the current Czech theatrical release over here:
<LI><<A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0228687">Little Otik</A> (Jan Svankmajer, 2000)
(<I>easily the most feature-packed Svankmajer disc to date (tons of textual backup, deleted scenes, trailers, the animated 'Otesanek' tale in one go), though sadly it doesn't include any of his shorts.)</I> </UL>
The punchline, though, is that as far as I can see this represents almost <U>everything</U> currently available, aside from a few children's films. But going from the sheer number of Hollywood films available, there's clearly enough of a DVD market to encourage more native Czech titles, and I'll keep an eye on it to see if anything else pops up.
Although Prague DVD outlets were sometimes impressively well stocked, on closer examination at least 95% (probably more) were the usual Hollywood titles, but closer examination (helped immeasurably by one shop separating them out) revealed a few Czech films unavailable elsewhere.
Curiously enough, there doesn't appear to be any back-catalogue stuff available yet - everything I bought was strictly 1997-2001 vintage, and for anything earlier you'll have to look westwards, to Criterion (<I>The Shop on Main Street, Closely Watched Trains</I> - both of which I can recommend: the transfer on the former is particularly good), Kino (<I>Faust, Conspirators of Pleasure</I>) or Image (<I>The Puppet Films of Jiri Trnka</I>). Fingers crossed this is merely short-term, though, as the VHS shelves were groaning with titles from Czech cinema's golden era (roughly 1963-69), so there's clearly a market out there.
The most pleasant discovery was that with just one exception, every single Czech film on DVD comes with optional English subtitles. Even better, all three of the discs I've so far explored come with English-language menus and often (though not always) offer subtitles on the extras as well.
The major linguistic exception, bizarrely enough, appears to be the Oscar-winning <I>Kolja</I>, which I assume is down to it being a very early Czech DVD release (it even comes in a standard CD-style jewel case), and in any case this film is far more likely to receive a subtitled Western release than any of the other titles I bought.
Anyway, titles that will hopefully be reviewed over the next fortnight include the following:
<UL><LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0246608">Angel Exit</A> (Vladimir Michalek, 2000)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0120469">Bringing Up Girls In Bohemia</A> (Petr Koliha, 1997)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0167331">Cosy Dens</A> (Jan Hrebejk, 1999)
(<I>very favourable initial impression - decent transfer, English menus, subtitles on the 15-minute featurette, though not on the trailers, and excellent biographies that filled in a lot of gaps.</I>)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0234288">Divided We Fall</A> (Jan Hrebejk, 2000)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0219288">>Loners</A> (David Ondricek, 2000)
(<I>looks very polished - animated menus, good-looking transfer, 5.1 sound and many extras available in English</I>)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0256676">Out of the City</A> (Tomas Vorel, 2000)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0247657">Rebelove</A> (Filip Renc, 2001)
<LI><A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0163019">Sekal Has To Die</A> (Vladimir Michalek, 1997)
and the current Czech theatrical release over here:
<LI><<A HREF="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0228687">Little Otik</A> (Jan Svankmajer, 2000)
(<I>easily the most feature-packed Svankmajer disc to date (tons of textual backup, deleted scenes, trailers, the animated 'Otesanek' tale in one go), though sadly it doesn't include any of his shorts.)</I> </UL>
The punchline, though, is that as far as I can see this represents almost <U>everything</U> currently available, aside from a few children's films. But going from the sheer number of Hollywood films available, there's clearly enough of a DVD market to encourage more native Czech titles, and I'll keep an eye on it to see if anything else pops up.