CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS (Ostre sledované vlaky) (1966) - ♦♦♦♦♦

Directed by - Jiri Menzel

Written by - Bohumil Hrabal, Jiri Menzel

Starring - Václav Neckár, Josef Somr, Vlastimil Brodský

"JIRI MENZEL was only 28 years old when he won international acclaim with his adaptation of the novel by BOHUMIL HRABAL, who co-wrote the screenplay along with him. 

CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS did not only win the Best Foreign Language film of 1967, but is also now rightfully recognised as one of the best products of the Czechoslovak New Wave. 

The story revolves around the coming of age process of its leading character, a young man who follows in his prematurely-retired father and becomes a railwayman. The action mostly takes place at the railway station where he works, and the narrative particularly follows in depth his struggles with his virginity in an honest to the point of being bluntly embarrassing way. 

CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS is a great piece of satire. It is driven by a great balance of witty and campy sense of humour, while the overall vision, much like the metaphor of the trains itself, is greatly sensible to the political backdrop that largely underlines the film - the one of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. 

The film has many memorable gags, sequences and one liners. MENZEL shows great skill in infusing an air of excitement and creativity not only in the screenplay, which he co-wrote, but also with the visual approach that favours a two dimensional mise en scene that deepens the impact of the well defined characters and an air of deadpan."

Comedy, Czechoslovakia