(Obcan Havel, 2008) Pavel Koutecky had a decade of intimate access to Vaclev Havel during his two terms as president of the Czech Republic, and the cinema vérité result is rich and intense, capturing the virtues as a man that may have made Havel less than an ideal administrator. The portrait of the playwright-turned-politico is only slightly diminished by the hermetic character of some of the distinctly Czech matters being discussed. He’s an agreeably amusing man. After his death at the age of 49 falling from a building in central Prague on another project, documentarian Miroslav Janek came in to finish the film from Koutecky’s amassed footage; a four-hour version has been show in the Czech Republic. With Havel, Olga Havelova, Vaclav Klaus, Dagmar Veskrnova, Milos Zeman, Jacques Chirac, the Rolling Stones, Bill Clinton. 119m. (Ray Pride)
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
Heart: A Review of Soul The real world is soulful, too, in Pixar's bountiful life of the mind.
Seeing The Elephant: A Review Of Babylon The boisterous, brawling yet melancholy "Babylon," is a variation on film history, but more drawing for drama. It's gaudy and mean, celebratory and sorrowful.
Spawn Sacrifice: A Review Of The Creator "The Creator" is richly detailed, punchy, pulpy, punkish entertainment that still has highly serious subjects in mind, without growing didactic and with substantial heart.
Fine Line: A Review Of Shortcomings It's a season for the comeuppance of a curmudgeon in Randall Park's smart, biting "Shortcomings," adapted by Adrian Tomine from his graphic novel of the same name.
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