Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

lasttimeisaw An avant-garde think piece from the late Mrs. Vera Chytilová (1929-2014), a spearhead figure emerges from Czech New Wave in the 60s, and keeps working consistently and domestically until her late age, DAISIES is her second feature with an economic length of 76 minutes, perhaps still remains as her most well-known work in her filmography.A whimsical, outlandish and provocative escapade about two young girls, both named Marie, Marie I (Cerhová), is a black-haired, Bardot-ish seducer and Maire II (Karbanová) is a blonde gamine, devilishly chic. Introduced by a robotic conversation between them, they decide to conduct a decadent lifestyle since the world has sunk to corruption and debauchery.Under Chytilová's unorthodox enforcement of cinematic tricks, the shots are immensely hyperactive, montages-laden with unexpected color-variations, fluidity and image-composition, and the two girls' follies become ever-enchanting, as audience's attention jumps from one scenario to another, they indulge in fine food and let some wealthy man-about-towns pay the bill, then swindle them to board the train on the pretence of going away with them before backtracking in the last minute (it works both ways, they leave with the train while the patron unfortunately misses the train). Occasionally, they snitch money and disturb a pas de deux in a club, revel in their own frolic bravado before being dragging out by the guard.When they are alone in their apartment, food and playfulness continues to running rampant, young suitors' romantic courtships cannot compete with a luxurious milk bath garnished with some raw eggs. A fantastic sleight of hand stuns when they shear each other to smithereens then the fragments being re-arranged into a knowingly comical presence like a misplaced puzzle. Their insatiable gluttony will reach the zenith in the sumptuous episode, where they single-handedly wreak havoc on a lavish banquet, an unapologetic manifesto to ram home epicurism to its dumbfounded spectators.In the coda, the two girls are granted a second chance to redeem their wanton acts, but Chytilová will not risk anything to foil her mischievously nonconformist endeavour. In one word, DAISIES' enduring allure lies in its radical Dadaism style and Chytilová's full liberation of her whimsy and artisan-ship. A fine piece of art can evince a wonderful change from the offerings of cinema's conventional product line, as it manifests in the end, the film is dedicated to those whose spiritual life has descended into completely chaos.

treywillwest Two sexy girls in Communist Czechoslovakia decide that patriarchal society is spoiled and decide to become spoiled themselves, just to see what it's like. This involves going out for fancy dinners with old men in comfortable positions and taking them for the proverbial ride of which the geezers want to literally take the girls. Eventually the girls encounter authentic communist workers who are too busy to be interested in pursuing them. The girls subsequently decide that they are tired of being spoiled, but by then it's too late. The Stalinist authorities are tired of them taking food from their plates, and they condemn the girls, just as the Czech state in fact ostricized the film and its female autuer.

Jackson Booth-Millard This Czechoslovakian film featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die was one I certainly did not know anything about regarding the plot or storyline, but when I read a little about it had some good feedback from the critics and it was one I looked forward to trying out. Basically the story revolves around two teenage girls both with the same name, Marie I (Jitka Cerhová) and Marie II (Ivana Karbanová) both have seemingly robotic personalities, but when it comes to their attitude towards life it is very immature. Almost the entire length of the film sees the two Maries cause all kinds of havoc for their own amusement and to the irritation and embarrassment of others, but they also find themselves on occasion in the arms of vulnerable men who want more serious relationships with them. Marie I and Marie II eat from a supposedly forbidden fruit tree (like the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil), they eat vigorously with no real manners including many odd looking foods, they outperform some professional dancers trying to entertain, they behave like pests with some restaurant waiters, they mess up and destroy a few rooms ready for guests, and they play tricks on a man about town (Julius Albert) (and some others) that they pretend to want relationships with but really they just use. In the end, after so much trouble making and pranks the two girls really learn a nasty lesson when they are killed by a large chandelier falling on and crushing them, but they were planning to put things wrong that they did wrong, this obviously came too late. As the two young childish and very naughty teenagers Cerhová and Karbanová give very believable performances, the film does most of the time feel rather weird and because of its destructive and anarchic material it was at the time banned by the Czech authorities, but now it is seen as an interesting alternative and surreal comedy film. Very good!

writers_reign I seem to be a lone dissenting voice in a chorus of approval. So be it. Whilst it seems clear that there is a strong satirical element at work here I have to confess that my knowledge of the political situation in what used to be called Czechoslovakia is non-existent so that all the barbs eluded me. On the other hand I had little problem with either Closely Observed Trains or The Firemen's Ball, both the work of Czech filmmakers and both satirical attacks on the political situation that prevailed at the time they were made. When I say I had no problem I don't wish to imply that I understood the satire but I do mean that the respective directors had included a sufficient 'entertainment' element to make their films accessible to a non-Czech audience, something which Vera Chytilova has failed to do here - or at least as far as I am concerned. I rented this film on the strength of the favourable reviews I had read and I take no pleasure in disagreeing with the majority but, alas, I can find little if anything to praise.