{"id":6188,"date":"2016-02-17T09:10:16","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T08:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=6188"},"modified":"2016-03-07T08:56:31","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T07:56:31","slug":"something-differenta-bagful-of-fleas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2016\/02\/17\/something-differenta-bagful-of-fleas\/","title":{"rendered":"Something Different\/A Bagful of Fleas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"something-different\"<\/a>
Something Different<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nFormat:<\/B> DVD

\nRelease date:<\/B> 29 February 2016

\nDistributor:<\/B> Second Run

\nDirector:<\/B> Věra Chytilová

\nWriter:<\/B> Věra Chytilová

\nOriginal titles:<\/B> O něčem jiném<\/I> (Something Different<\/i>), Pytel blech<\/i> (A Bagful of Fleas<\/i>)

\nCast:<\/B> Eva Bosáková, Věra Uzelacová

\nCzechoslovakia 1963\/1962

\n81\/43 minutes\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This new release explores Věra Chytilová’s early 1960s documentary-inflected pre-Daisies<\/i> work.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s like guarding a bagful of fleas,\u2019 says the chaperone at the textile-factory workers\u2019 dance. The young employees jive to a rendition of \u2018O Sole Mio\u2019 with new Czech lyrics, which have special poignancy for Jana, who is about to lose her boyfriend to the army. She\u2019s been creating trouble, both on the job and in the girls\u2019 dormitory where she lives, boarding-school style. No smoking, no flirting, no sneaking out to the cinema, and up for work at 4:30 am \u2013 those are the rules. A subjective camera represents the point of view of Eva, a new recruit, making the audience literally share her newcomer\u2019s perspective. We\u2019re in her shoes as she first enters her new living quarters, where the girls stare, tease, and talk directly to the camera in close-up. We listen in on Eva\u2019s private opinions about everything that she observes: \u2018Go on, eat something, you\u2019re thin as a rake,\u2019 she thinks, as the dorm\u2019s chubbiest member snacks away. \u2018Strange, women dancing together,\u2019 remarks her inner voice, as she watches her co-workers practising for the next party. <\/p>\n

Fans of Věra Chytilová\u2019s famously experimental and anarchic Daisies<\/I><\/a> (1966) are in for a treat with another release of her work on DVD by Second Run. Last year they released two later films, Fruit of Paradise<\/I><\/a> (1970) and Traps<\/I><\/a> (1998), which took Daisies<\/I>\u2019 fantasy and feminism even further. This release of Something Different<\/I> (1963) and A Bagful of Fleas<\/I> (1962) takes us back to the beginning of Chytilová\u2019s career. <\/p>\n

Something Different<\/I> presents a parallel montage of the lives of two women: stay-at-home mum V?ra and professional gymnast Eva Bosáková. The housewife is played by Chytilová\u2019s friend Věra Uzelacová, with her actual son, Milda, as her naughty little boy. The athlete is shown taking part in a real-life international championship, but there are also obviously scripted sections of her story, just like the fictional narrative of Věra and her family. Their lives only intersect briefly at the very beginning of the film, in a transition from the opening sequence of Eva competing, to the living room of Věra\u2019s house where Milda is watching the competition on TV. Chytilová\u2019s talent for rhythmic editing, geometric framing and inventive perspective is already in evidence. Viewers might expect a film of contrasts between the mother in her private sphere and the gymnast in the public eye, but the women share a similar degree of boredom and frustration, and both briefly resist the confines of routine, expectation and isolation. <\/p>\n

Compared with Daisies<\/I>, these early films show more of the influence of documentary realism. The young factory workers in A Bagful of Fleas<\/I> are non-professional actors improvising their lines; real foremen and officials preside over the Works Committee meeting where Jana is pulled up for bad behaviour. Even so, a gulf in attitude separates this from other films in the Czech New Wave, such as Milos Forman\u2019s A Blonde in Love<\/I><\/a> (1965); there\u2019s also less of Jiří Menzel\u2019s whimsical good humour, and more of Daisies<\/I>\u2019 knowing cynicism. Both A Bagful of Fleas<\/I> and Something Different<\/I> emphasise the oppressive narrowness of their characters\u2019 situation.<\/p>\n

Alison Frank<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This new release explores Věra Chytilová’s early 1960s documentary-inflected pre-Daisies<\/i> work.
\nReview by Alison Frank<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,3],"tags":[542,61,151,1307,1170],"class_list":["post-6188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-check-it-out","category-dvds-and-blu-rays","tag-60s-film","tag-czech-cinema","tag-czech-new-wave","tag-feminist-film","tag-vera-chytilova"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-1BO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5418,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2015\/03\/22\/traps\/","url_meta":{"origin":6188,"position":0},"title":"Traps","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"March 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Czech New Wave director V\u011bra Chytilov\u00e1 offers a complex view of the consequences of rape in this dark satire. 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Comic Strip Review by S.J. Harris","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"panelstory 1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/panelstory-1-594x891.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/panelstory-1-594x891.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/panelstory-1-594x891.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5466,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2015\/04\/29\/fruit-of-paradise\/","url_meta":{"origin":6188,"position":2},"title":"Fruit of Paradise","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"April 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Released after the crushing of the Prague Spring, Chytilov\u00e1\u2019s 1970 follow-up to Daisies is as visually inventive but much darker in tone. Review by Alison Frank","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fruit of Paradise 1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Fruit-of-Paradise-1-594x386.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Fruit-of-Paradise-1-594x386.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Fruit-of-Paradise-1-594x386.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":643,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2009\/06\/04\/daisies\/","url_meta":{"origin":6188,"position":3},"title":"Daisies","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"June 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"But their insubordination is not just an act of female resistance against patriarchal society: V?ra Chytilov\u00ed\u00a1's Daisies (1966) is more Dada than women's lib, and the two Maries are above all non-conformist individuals, outsiders to the grinding machinery of society. Virginie S\u00e9lavy","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Daisies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Daisies-594x452.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Daisies-594x452.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Daisies-594x452.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":793,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2009\/11\/01\/bunny-and-the-bull\/","url_meta":{"origin":6188,"position":4},"title":"Bunny and the Bull","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"November 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Bunny and the Bull is the debut feature of Mighty Boosh director Paul King and he certainly keeps up the visually inventive surreal stylings of his television work. 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