Bájecná léta pod psa (1997)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Petr Nikolaev

Writers:

Michal Viewegh (novel) and
Jan Novák (writer)

Release Date:

3 April 1997 (Czech Republic)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

The story of an ordinary family living in Czechoslovakia from around 1963 until the Velvet Revolution. Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Michal Wiewegh. |

Plot Keywords:

Czechoslovakia | Velvet Revolution | Female Nudity | Male Nudity | Young Boy

Awards:

6 nominations

Cast

Ondrej Vetchý	...	Kvido's Father
Libuse Safránková	...	Kvido's mother
Vladimír Javorský	...	Sperk
Jan Zahalka	...	Kvido (boy)
Jakub Wehrenberg	...	Kvido
Klára Botková	...	Jaruska
Jitka Jezková	...	Jaruska
Vladimír Dlouhý	...	Zvara
Vilma Cibulková	...	Sperková
Miriam Kantorková	...	Grandmother Vera
Kveta Fialová	...	Grandmother Líba
Stanislav Zindulka	...	Grandfather Josef
Otakar Brousek	...	Grandfather Jirí
Viktor Preiss	...	Playwriter Holub
Jirí Schmitzer	...	Dr. Liehr

Also Known As:

Wonderful Years That Sucked

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

Czech Republic

Language:

Czech

Color:

Color

Company:

Space Films

Wonderful years under the dog

I just can't put this film down. It perfectly captures the mood and sense prevailing in communist Czechoslovakia. We open with a queue for meat which Father ( Ondrej Vetchy ) bypasses to do some blackmarket dealing with the butcher. "Mother" ( Libuse Safrankova - at her usual brilliant best ) is expecting her first child ( which arrives at an unfortunate time - just after the interval at the theatre ). Baby Kvido is the apple of his grandmothers' eyes but his formative years are interrupted by the Soviet Invasion of 1968. The film follows the effect the Soviet "occupation" has on Kvido's parents. The mid-life crisis of Father is fed by the arrival of the stunningly beautiful Mirjana from what used to be Yugoslavia. Mother and Father fall out over dinner when Mirjana is invited round. The film explores how the weight of a cruel and corrupt society and an unhappy marriage drag a man down. Don't miss this film the ending is optimistic and the experience will leave a smile on your face. I watched in the original Czech with subtitles something may be lost.