The Party and the Guests

I've never been much for this cannibalistic parable, but I do have a giant soft spot for the new-wave obliteration of archetypes of a Czech character using non-actors. The strange unnatural feeling of watching it can be compared to the feeling of watching scary horror movies. After all, how many points of contact can the film The Party and the Guests have with the cannibalistic feast in Texas Chainsaw Massacre? The statuette for the most charming bimbo of the Czechoslovak New Wave goes to Helena Pejšková. She takes over from Hana Brejchová. (14/12/2021)

The Party and the Guests is a very unconventional film that is certainly not lost in the field of parables in 1960’s Czechoslovak cinema. The constant presence of a kind of absurdity and the endless asking of the question Why? How? Where? When?, to which perhaps there is no clear answer – this film plays with the viewer and leaves them free for interpretation. All in all, a noteworthy piece of filmmaking, which, although it didn't impress me as much as other users, I can still recommend. (01/07/2015)

Intellectual puzzle about the technology of power and manipulation of individuals, which became a cult affair thanks to the fact that two years later the Soviet invasion came. The film story about a feast and uninvited visitors perfectly captured the gloomy mood of that time. Interesting dialogues and Orwellian-Kafkaesque atmosphere. Strong final scene, when the search for the lost guest, who obviously does not care for company, turns into a merciless pursuit of an outcast. Overall impression: 95%. The film is worth watching, if only because of its atypical cast. (14/06/2006)

A shining example of why I don't really like allegories. Not that they have nothing to say, but they do it so stubbornly that I feel embarrassed for them. Although the political climate has changed over the past half-century, a viewer who knows what they're getting into can easily imagine all the festivities, moods, tricks, the flaring up and dying down. It is precisely because of this incessant dense spasmodic semi-pathos that I cannot properly laugh or be shocked by Vít Klusák's remarkable post mortem. It must be said, however, that he himself is a soldier in the field, and the picnickers in particular, whether intentionally or not, are simply dreadful with their amateurish recitation. With this it is with pleasure that I am definitively done with Jan Němec. (10/09/2017)