17 Marketa Lazarová

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Bikey
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#176 Post by Bikey » Mon Apr 14, 2008 5:05 pm

Marketa Lazarová at the Riverside, London - Sunday 20th April

We wanted to remind everyone that the Riverside will be screening Marketa Lazarová. Thanks to the support of the Czech Centre it will be the same widescreen 35mm print that was used at our Curzon Mayfair screening last November. It will be only the fifth time ever that the film has been screened in the UK and, even though we say it ourselves, it really is an astonishing film and just wonderful to watch on the big screen.

Riverside Cinema, Hammersmith, London - Sunday 20th April at 2pm (14.00)

For details and to book tickets

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Bikey
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#177 Post by Bikey » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:32 pm

For all our friends within striking distance of Edinburgh, we wanted to let you know that there will be a screening of Marketa Lazarová at the FILMHOUSE cinema there on 23rd May. Thanks again to the support of the Czech Centre it will be the same widescreen 35mm print that was used at our London screenings.

And, as a special event, the screening will be introduced by Jan Culik who is the senior lecturer in Czech studies at Glasgow University. This makes it only the sixth time ever that the film has been screened in the UK - do try and catch it on the big screen if at all you can.

Filmhouse, Edinburgh - Friday 23rd May at 5.45pm (17.45)

For details and to book tickets: http://www.filmhousecinema.com/showing/ ... -lazarova/

xixao

Re: BBFC

#178 Post by xixao » Tue Jun 17, 2008 3:39 pm

Nimbydimby wrote: This is a response I got from the BBFC:
Cuts will be made to films or DVDs where there is clear evidence of on-screen cruelty, or the makers are unable to provide convincing assurances.

In the case of MARKETA LAZAROVA, the examining team noted that the snake looked and reacted both terrified and furious when attacked with a knife. The scene was also clearly "organised or directed" for the sole purpose of being filmed. In these circumstances, it was judged that this represented an illegal act of animal cruelty under the tests and therefore
subject to intervention.

However, it should be noted that the killing of animals on screen does not always denote that cruelty to them has occurred. In the UK, for instance, the hunting methods of a number of species is currently legal practice, and therefore, by legal definition, not deemed to be a cruel activity. Likewise, the 'clean kill' of an animal by recognised methods, where the
animal is killed quickly and painlessly, without undue suffering, is also deemed as not being cruel.

Yours sincerely,

J L Green
Chief Assistant (Policy)
well, mr. green, i understand your point of view. however, this film was made outside UK and in those old times when tousands of filmmakers didn´t care too much about "animal rights". i strongly believe the cuts in the film (also cuts in books etc.) is a violation of law, because no one can make whatsoever changes in authors´ works... only if the author or owner of the rights gives his prior permission...

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MichaelB
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Re: BBFC

#179 Post by MichaelB » Tue Jun 17, 2008 3:54 pm

xixao wrote: however, this film was made outside UK and in those old times when tousands of filmmakers didn´t care too much about "animal rights".
True, but irrelevant if you propose to exhibit the film in British cinemas or release it on a British DVD label. Incidentally, the legislation in question actually dates from thirty years before the "old times" in which Marketa Lazarová was made!
i strongly believe the cuts in the film (also cuts in books etc.) is a violation of law
Which law? Because not cutting the film is a clear violation of the 1937 Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act if you're seeking UK distribution, which is why Mr Green's hands are tied (it's not his "point of view", it's the BBFC's legal duty to ensure that the videos that the 1984 Video Recordings Act requires them to pass are in full compliance with all other relevant legislation).
because no one can make whatsoever changes in authors´ works... only if the author or owner of the rights gives his prior permission...
Well, if you identify which UK law specifies this, and get a test case sorted so that a judge can determine whether this law overrides the Animals Act, I'm sure we'll be forever grateful.

(And I'm sure the BBFC will be too, as I know from experience that they hate cutting important films because of that particular law!)

Incidentally, the full text of the Animals Act can be read here - but it's quite short, so there's not a lot of room for ambiguity.
Last edited by MichaelB on Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Barmy
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#180 Post by Barmy » Tue Jun 17, 2008 3:55 pm

I'm sure the snake's family is thankful that this horrific footage was censored. :roll: :roll: :roll:

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tryavna
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Re: BBFC

#181 Post by tryavna » Tue Jun 17, 2008 4:46 pm

MichaelB wrote:but it's quite short, so there's not a lot of room for ambiguity.
Brevity is no guarantee that a statement (especially a law) is unambiguous. Take the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, for example. Not that I disagree with your point; just quibbling over that "so."

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MichaelB
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#182 Post by MichaelB » Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:07 pm

1.- (1) No person shall exhibit to the public, or supply to any person for public exhibition (whether by him or by another person), any cinematograph film (whether produced in Great Britain or elsewhere) if in connection with the production of the film any scene represented in the film was organised or directed in such a way as to involve the cruel infliction of pain or terror on any animal or the cruel goading of any animal to fury.
Translation: it doesn't matter where the film came from - if its contents suggest that animal cruelty was committed, and the producer cannot prove otherwise, the footage cannot be legally screened in Britain.

Note that this legislation refers to any exhibition, so it technically covers film festivals too, though in practice I'm sure a couple have slipped through the net. But the Edinburgh Film Festival had to withdraw Cockfighter from a Monte Hellman retrospective a couple of years ago, as it would only take a single upheld complaint to the relevant local authority for the cinema to lose its operating licence.
(2) In any proceedings brought under this Act in respect of any film, the court may (without prejudice to any other mode of proof) infer from the film as exhibited to the public or supplied for public exhibition, as the case may be, that a scene represented in the film as so exhibited or supplied was organised or directed in such a way as to involve the cruel infliction of pain or terror on an animal or the cruel goading of an animal to fury, but (whether the court draws such an inference or not) it shall be a defence for the defendant to prove that he believed, and had reasonable cause to believe, that no scene so represented was so organised or directed.
Translation: if the producer of the film can prove that the cruelty would have happened regardless of the presence of the cameras (in other words, it happened naturally, and wasn't "organised or directed"), then it's fine.

Two other loopholes arise from the wording of the Act - simulated cruelty is fine, if the producer can prove this, and instant killing is also fine, as there's no "infliction of pain or terror".

Examples of films that got round each loophole:

1. Apocalypse Now - the sacrifice of the bull would have happened anyway, and the cameras' presence was incidental;
2. Amores Perros - anticipating trouble, the producers thoroughly documented every contentious shot, and could demonstrate that all the dog-fights were simulated;
3. Benny's Video (and other Michael Haneke films) - the pig's death, though genuine, was instant.

Narshty
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#183 Post by Narshty » Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:40 pm

Add to that the unusual example of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid - the opening chicken head firing range sequence is completely intact because of the instantaneous kill factor. However, some horses tripped on wires later on in the film had to come out.

Perkins Cobb
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#184 Post by Perkins Cobb » Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:42 pm

I watched my Marketa Lazarova DVD a couple of weeks ago (it's a amazing movie, by the way, but I feel like Vlacil actually topped it in Valley of the Bees: same vivid feel of Middle Ages authenticity, but more focused narratively & thematically).

Obviously it's unfair to blame Second Run for obeying a backward law in a country without free speech. However, I do feel that they deserve criticism for not disclosing the cuts they made, or offering a response or explanation in this forum (where they post regularly on other matters) after a forum member "busted" them with his own research. (Diligent work, Skritek.)

That information certainly would have influenced my decision to purchase the DVD had I known about it ahead of time; Marketa has screened theatrically a couple of times in NY and LA already, so I probably would've opted to hold out (at least for a few years) for another opportunity to experience the film for the first time, uncut, that way. As it was, since I already had the DVD before this info came out, I decided to go ahead & watch it rather than return or resell it unopened. But not with the enthusiasm I once had. (And the cuts, though seemingly minor, do make a difference: even within the surreal logic of that flashback/dream sequence, it makes much more sense if it comes back to the snake at the end.) The DVD is going on Ebay instead of staying on my shelf, even though I dug the movie.

I wasn't going to bring this up again just to yell at Second Run, but since someone else did, there's my two cents. It seems like every time they put out a good release, it's followed by one that's compromised in some crucial way. I'm eager to see Rat-Trap, but are there scenes of the rats that have been deleted? You can believe I won't place an order until Second Run weighs in on that point.

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#185 Post by MichaelB » Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:55 pm

Perkins Cobb wrote:I'm eager to see Rat-Trap, but are there scenes of the rats that have been deleted? You can believe I won't place an order until Second Run weighs in on that point.
They don't need to - the BBFC website confirms that the film was passed without cuts.

(The five-minute discrepancy between theatrical and video versions is down to PAL speedup)

beckmann_max
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#186 Post by beckmann_max » Sat Aug 16, 2008 8:58 am

I've recently considered a connection between the literary Marketa Lazarova and Orlando Furioso by Ariosto, especially in the clash between Christianity and paganism. I just mention it because I haven't read anything about such a connection, and it's almost certain that Vancura had read it, since it's one of the most emblematic works of the early European litterarute. Any thoughts?

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Bikey
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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#187 Post by Bikey » Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:37 am

Time Out's Tom Huddleston discovers a masterpiece and writes about it for his Classic Film Club series:
http://www.timeout.com/film/features/sh ... arova.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

T99
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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#188 Post by T99 » Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:02 am

Is Marketa Lazarova out of print? I ordered a copy six weeks ago from Play.com and they are still awaiting stock from the supplier.

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Bikey
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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#189 Post by Bikey » Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:18 am

T99 wrote:Is Marketa Lazarova out of print? I ordered a copy six weeks ago from Play.com and they are still awaiting stock from the supplier.
Thanks for letting us know, T99. Marketa Lazarova is neither out of print nor out of stock, so you should have no worries about that. We will follow this up with Play but, in the meantime, if you wish to, you can always order it direct from us via our website.

admira
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Marketa Lazarová DVD

#190 Post by admira » Sat Nov 14, 2009 1:32 pm

That would be very interesting to compare the picture quality of Marketa Lazarova from Second Run, Malavida Films and Cult Classic
Last edited by admira on Sat Dec 19, 2009 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Marketa Lazarová DVD

#191 Post by MichaelB » Sat Nov 14, 2009 1:44 pm

admira wrote:That would be very interesting to compare the picture quality of Marketa Lazarova from Second Run, Malavida Films and Cult Classic
I bet the source master was the same for all three. I haven't seen the Malavida disc, but going from their Wojciech Has releases it's pretty clear that they're essentially the French Second Run - i.e. real labour-of-love discs produced on limited budgets using whatever masters could be pulled off the shelf.

Perkins Cobb
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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#192 Post by Perkins Cobb » Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:16 pm

Yes, but would the others be censored/re-edited like the Second Run disc? Presumably not.

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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#193 Post by MichaelB » Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:26 pm

Perkins Cobb wrote:Yes, but would the others be censored/re-edited like the Second Run disc? Presumably not.
Presumably not, but they wouldn't be English-friendly either. Neither spec release lists English subtitles, and none of my existing Malavida discs offers anything other than French, so that description at least is probably accurate.

So unless you speak Czech, French or Portuguese, I suppose it depends on how anal you are about a couple of seconds missing from a nearly three-hour film.

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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#194 Post by admira » Mon Nov 16, 2009 2:42 pm

MichaelB wrote: a couple of seconds missing from a nearly three-hour film
. . It is very important, that NO scene is missing.


No censorship for ART!

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knives
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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#195 Post by knives » Wed Dec 01, 2010 2:48 am

Not much discussion actually on this film huh? Might as well as try to jump start things than. This was my introduction to Vlacil and I'm knocked backwards. This film is nothing short of perfection. Things went by so quickly that as the screen turned black I thought I still had an hour to go.There are so many perfect elements here I'm not even sure where to begin. The story, and more importantly how it was told, is unlike anything I've ever seen. The closest comparison I can muster is Mirror or Last Year at Marienbad, but even they are very distant relatives. Every character, and there are many, has their own story so the film manages about six films into it's runtime. That might have a little to do with why such a long film runs so quickly, but it doesn't answer for the lack of problems that this sort of overstuffing usually yields. The film just soars with clean observation.
The cinematography is also beyond great. The blacks and whites just glow off of the screen as if they existed in the real world. I could touch the foliage almost. Who needs 3D when you have that. Another odd thing, that probably adds to how quick the film is, is that despite taking the typical eastern long shots there remains an almost modern sense of montage there. If Tony Scott's camera tricks could be applied to the long shot this surely would be the result. The same sort of fractured narrative is produced, but again without the side effects. The emotional investment to everyone's character is there.

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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#196 Post by swo17 » Wed Dec 01, 2010 3:26 am

I had a very similar reaction when I first watched this (also my introduction to Vlácil) a few months ago, though I find words hard to come by to convey just how powerful I found it. Let me just say that this is easily one of the top 5 or so most beautiful looking films I've ever seen. Make sure to watch Valley of the Bees as well!

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knives
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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#197 Post by knives » Wed Dec 01, 2010 3:33 am

Got the whole boxset, luckily. If I find anything to say about them I will. Also going through the booklet I realized just how little the story mattered to me. Vlacil did such a great job of turning the story into basically an anthology that I honestly don't care how the scenes fit together. If I do figure it out, great for me, but it seems so unimportant when each scene manages to say so much by itself.

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Bikey
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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#198 Post by Bikey » Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:09 am

New York's Film Society of Lincoln Center at the Walter Reade Theater hosts a major retrospective of Vláčil’s work starting Feb 2. With screenings of Marketa Lazarová, The Valley of the Bees, Adelheid, The White Dove and Devil's Trap, and in-person appearances by actor Jan Kačer and critic Peter Hames.

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MichaelB
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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#199 Post by MichaelB » Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:36 am

Bikey wrote:New York's Film Society of Lincoln Center at the Walter Reade Theater hosts a major retrospective of Vláčil’s work starting Feb 2. With screenings of Marketa Lazarová, The Valley of the Bees, Adelheid, The White Dove and Devil's Trap, and in-person appearances by actor Jan Kačer and critic Peter Hames.
This looks like a clone of the BFI Southbank retrospective, which is all to the good.

Of the two missing features, I wasn't that impressed with Mág (1987) (I suspect it speaks much more eloquently to Czechs familiar with its subject Karel Hynek Mácha's poetry), and nothing I've heard about his Dvořák biopic suggests that that's a major loss either.

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MichaelB
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Re: 17 Marketa Lazarová

#200 Post by MichaelB » Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:42 am

DVD Outsider, which has consistently offered some of the most intelligent and informed reviews of Second Run's releases, finally gets round to their flagship title.

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