Pearls of the Deep (1966) - ES 32

OK, enough of this preliminary chatter about restarting my blog. Here's a movie write-up for real. Pearls of the Deep is the first title that shows up on my list of 1966 films, and it's a perfect way for me to get on this new roll, since I already reviewed it on Criterion Cast back in the summer of 2012. An omnibus compilation of five short films based on the stories of writer Bohumil Hrabel, what you get here is a sampler plate featuring the work of the directors that are included on the other five discs in the Eclipse Series 32: Pearls of the Czech New Wave set, one of the heftiest offerings in that DVD-only sideline that Criterion started back in 2008. I'll simply link to that review for now and let that do most of the speaking for me as far as the details of this film are concerned. It's fairly lengthy and offers a nice selection of images and even a video link that still works!

The common authorship of these stories provides some semblance of a unified perspective, but no particular theme or principle emerges from the collection, which is described by some reviewers as a "manifesto" of sorts. My earlier (and quite positive review) offers the perspective of a novice to the styles and sensibilities of Czech cinema, and over the weeks that followed in my coverage of this set during the course of that 2012 summer, I only grew more appreciative of the wry humor and charming, world-weary resignation in this that connected with some jaded-but-refusing-to-be-depressed-about-it part of me. The experience of discovering these films and assimilating my own tastes and perspectives to better understand them is among the happiest memories I carry with me from the past several years of movie blogging! So if you haven't ventured into this Eclipse box quite yet, I heartily recommend that you do. I imagine that Trevor Berrett and I will cover it on our Eclipse Viewer podcast in the next several months, maybe sometime later this spring or early summer, after we work through a few other sets first.

One final recommendation that I'll make here is that if you enjoy Pearls of the Deep and the other films in that Eclipse set, be sure to look up The Junk Shop, directed by Juraj Herz, and A Boring Afternoon, from Ivan Passer. They were released right around the same time, and are also based on a story by Bohumil Hrabel. The two shorts fit in perfectly with the aesthetic established by Pearls and I'll assume that the main reason they weren't included was due to length, as they would have added another 45 minutes or so to the anthology. I kind of wish they had been included in the Eclipse box, but I guess that's why Hulu Plus remains essential to us Criterion Completists. You can find links to the films embedded in their titles, and here's a YouTube clip featuring a pair of scenes from The Junk Shop.

Next: The Naked Prey