domenica 17 maggio 2015

Drak sa vracia (The Return of Dragon) – Eduard Grecner

Dragon, di mestiere vasaio, torna al paese dopo diversi anni, la sua fidanzata è diventata la moglie di uno del villaggio, gli è rimasta la casa, che nessuno ha mai avuto il coraggio di distruggere.
per farsi accettare si offre per una missione rischiosa, quella di salvare il bestiame di tutto il paese da un incendio. 
anche Simon, il marito della “sua” donna si offre per la missione, anche per controllare Dragon.
Dragon è una specie di Ulisse e di ebreo errante, anche senza essere ebreo.
poche parole e riprese molto belle, in un indimenticabile bianco e nero, ambientato in un passato sempre attuale, in un film di quella straordinaria stagione del cinema cecoslovacco della seconda metà degli anni '60.
peccato che Eduard Grecner abbia fatto pochissimi film.
come va a finire lo saprà chi lo cerca, questo film che merita - Ismaele





Although set in ancient times, this one has more in common with the contemporary New Wave pictures of Milos Forman, Jirí Menzel, and Věra Chytilová, than the realist period films by directors like František Vláčil and Hynek Bočan. Grečner's focus was not on the accuracy or realism of the setting, but rather on universal themes, and the psychology of his characters.
There's not a lot of dialog, and the narrative relies a lot on its visuals and sounds. The film is shot almost entirely with a large telephoto lens, which has the mystical depth-of-field effect of isolating the characters, while blurring out their surroundings. It gives the picture an epic feel, and also hides any imperfections in the low budget sets that might otherwise be revealed. Even the action scenes are shot this way, and there is an astonishing sequence in the second act of the film, where Dragon and Simon grudgingly work together to lead the village's herd of cattle through a forest engulfed in flames, across a river, and then over a mountain pass...

Dragon is the nickname of a solitary hero, living far in the mountains. He is cast out by villagers because he brought them a bad luck. One day Dragon returns, sacrifices himself for the village, and the people take him back. “The Return of Dragon” represents the relationship between an individual and a group. Although the community holds masculine principles, love for woman gives to the film more subtle tones. It is a story about searching for lost emotions, love and trust. In his memorable feature Eduard Grecner brings the tradition of lyrical prose to life through a whole series of formal aesthetic techniques.

About the director: 
Slovak film director Eduard Grecner, who was born in Czechoslovakia in 1931, has a special place among the “Slovak New Wave” film directors. Grecner studied dramaturgy and script writing at the well-known Film and TV school in Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague. After his initial work with Štefan Uher, Grecner made his mark as a proponent of the so-called ‘intellectual’ film, the antithesis of the socially critical film. Grecner’s great role model was Alain Resnais, a young French filmmaker who introduced the idea of film as a labyrinth in which meanings are created not by linear stories, but by complex configurations of various layers of time, thus differentiating film from both literature and theater.

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