Deserter and the Nomads, The

Some filmmakers only remain associated with me through one title, whereas the other parts of their work are either too weak or for some reason I miss out on watching them. An example of this is Antonioni with his film Blow-Up, a synchronization that never repeated itself. Jakubisko is actually in luck, as he is a director of two films for me - Sitting on a Branch and, above all, The Millennial Bee. His subsequent movies caused me greater or lesser doubts. I did not know his early works, so I approached watching The Deserter and the Nomads without prejudice. In just half an hour, the initial astonishment turned into tormenting shock. Jakubisko resigns from any logic, and this is manneristic craziness that cannot be explained even by taking (one) drug, more like a turbulent reaction of the body to the ingestion of several conflicting drugs. Jakubisko perhaps wanted to deal with the demons of World War I in his own way, but he did not have enough humility and distance for a social statement to emerge. Instead, he ground everything into a pseudo-artistic visual mishmash. Overall impression: 10%. (01/09/2015)