Happy End

Oldřich Lipský's one-of-a-kind Czech black comedy employs an ingenious twist - telling the life story of a philanderer and condemned murderer entirely in reverse: from his 'birth' at the guillotine, to his departure as an infant. Starring the great Vladimír Menšík in a rare leading role, the film is wildly inventive and disarmingly hilarious. The reverse chronology, with events playing out completely backwards, upends the narrative flow to become a playful, surreal, Dadaist experience unlike anything else in contemporary cinema. (Second Run)