NinadeL

The 60th feature-length Disney film. An experience identical to visiting the Colombian embassy. This time, a fully-fledged Disney movie did not emerge, but rather a platform for all those concurrent outputs. A rich soundtrack, attractions at Disneyland, books, media, dolls... But it is all so submerged in that specific culture that global comprehensibility has been forgotten.

A beautiful film based on a true story. Given that it was released just a few years after The Elephant Man,  one may get the impression that it is a moving, yet inspired fiction. However, the phenomenon of The Elephant Man could have at most released the atmosphere in society in this case, so that a similar story could be told from the present day without much surprise. Roy L. Dennis (1961-1978) suffered from craniofacial dysplasia and yet lived a relatively pleasant life. Characters like Beau in Murder House or Jake in Grey's Anatomy also have a similar diagnosis. In reality, he also had a homosexual brother, but that would be too much for an eighties film. So we were left with a beautifully tight drama, with Cher reigning as the mother, Eric Stoltz under the striking mask, and Laura Dern as a gentle blind girl. I postponed my viewing experience a bit, but I don't regret it, despite all the circumstances, as it is an experience that can charge you with positive energy.

Whenever I go back to movies with Kim Basinger, I have to laugh at the collective idea that her acting is better than any other Playboy model. Truth be told, there is something hypnotic about her passive presence on screen, but she never reached real dramatic acting.

Given the tradition of Czech historical films and television dramas, I understand that contemporary historical television films still need to find their audience. The historical genre has always been a matter of funding or official policy. We were accustomed to grand films produced by the State Film with more or less hidden propaganda, and to cheap productions with excellent dialogues and zero budgets. This film represents a new intersection; for television standards, it is a film of unprecedented production value, and likewise, for television standards, it is a film with an exceptionally good script. The style is new, the subject matter remains sensitive, and the television viewer feels uncertain about what they are watching. They don't understand because they expected something different. But that's how it often is with pioneers.

In the early days of Czech sound film, it seemed to forget the breadth of genres that could be further developed. As a result, Czech films of the 1930s might appear relatively homogeneous, showcasing various comedies, musical melodramas, and socially-oriented stories. However, if we examine each year individually, we would certainly find exceptions that counter this impression, particularly in the production year of 1937, when film production peaked with fifty new films being made. This peak resulted in an overwhelming variety that the contemporary cinema network could barely manage, and critics struggled to adequately review each title. A trio of films from this era of expansion marked the first solo ventures of Ladislav Brom. His debut, the social drama The Accordion, was influenced by his study stay in the USSR. This was followed by the charming adaptation of a magazine novel for women and girls, The Career of Mother Lízalka, and finally, Blackmailer, based on a story by Egon Hostovský. Hostovský was a prominent Czech Jewish writer who would later experience a life of double exile. It was fortunate that during the First Republic, he saw at least one of his works adapted into a film, as all subsequent adaptations were of his works written in exile. This film was created with an authentic atmosphere, reflecting the contemporary inclination towards expressionist and psychological novels. Specifically, the novella "Ztracený stín" (1931) deals with the classic theme of losing one's identity, a "shadow" of our self, when one finds oneself in an inescapable situation. The situation is excellently portrayed, and the characters are intriguing. The story includes everything from a financially struggling young love (Adina Mandlová/Ladislav Pešek), a bored factory owner's wife (Bedřich Vrbský/Helena Bušová), to a treacherous general director (Plachý) who is in cahoots with the company president (Deyl). The main character is a former accountant (Vítězslav Boček) who easily succumbs to the opportunity to escape poverty. Today's viewers, who are not accustomed to categorizing films as high or low art, can better appreciate Blackmailer as a key work that shaped the path of Czech cinema towards psychological expression.

Personalities like Martin Scorsese have the power to make the general public interested in subjects they choose. Such a personal topic for Scorsese was the novel "Silence" by Shūsaku Endō, which he presented to Western viewers 45 years after its original Japanese adaptation Silence. However, it is very difficult to establish a personal connection to the story of Portuguese Jesuits on a Japanese mission in the 17th century. The spiritual atmosphere and beautiful landscape are certainly captivating, but A-list actors like Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, and Liam Neeson are naturally more suited to a different context.

The first biography of Liberace. It's slightly more conservative than Behind the Candelabra, which is logical given the production date. Still, it's a well-crafted film. One better understands his extravagant nature, and that he had Italian-Polish roots and was in love with classic Hollywood. He discovered his iconic style in the film A Song to Remember.

A brief overview documentary. Liberace's career was not global, and that is why it is so difficult to understand the alleged qualities of this showman. Some compared him to Elvis, and he even played for the British queen. But in private, he apparently remained a bitter homosexual who liked to buy young boys. It is quite perverse to watch Debbie Reynolds' memories, who worked with Liberace and at the end of her life even played his mother in Behind the Candelabra.

Behind the Candelabra is the second adaptation of Scott Thorson's memoirs about the years he spent in a relationship with Liberace. The first film was released practically immediately after Liberace's death - Liberace: Behind the Music. The theme is clear: the turning of the 70s and 80s, starring a gay celebrity who cannot afford to be open, and the story of a young lover that ends... badly. Scott Thorson was lucky not to contract HIV, but he had his face ruined by plastic surgery at Liberace's request. The end of their relationship then led to legal battles over alimony, something that was dealt with by a homosexual couple for the first time. The message of this film falls into the series of biographies such as Milk or later Bohemian Rhapsody. The atmosphere is identical to Spinning Gold.

Cher... Special was a big TV show that aired on April 3, 1978. Cher herself played many roles, invited Dolly, Rod Stewart, and The Tubes, transformed into a diva and many other characters from West Side Story, mastered the disco queen and Laverne, a character she played on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour... which the Emmy judges couldn't help but notice. Cher... Special was a historic event and fans still enjoy watching the reruns.