#the cremator

My hauling of Criterion Blu-Rays of this month(50% off sale):

(in chronological order)

1. The Lure (2015) dir. Agnieszka Smoczynska

2. Teorema (1968) dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini

3. The Cremator (1969) dir. Juraj Herz

4. Ghost World (2001) dir. Terry Zwigoff

5. Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) dir. Miranda July 

litafficionado:

Spalovač mrtvol(1969)dir.Juraj Herz

IMDB

R.I.P.Juraj Herz(1934-2018)

Oh no. One of my favourite Czech directors (although he was born in Slovakia) has passed away. As much as I love his three internationally most famous films The Cremator(1969),Morgiana (1972) and Beauty and the Beast(1978), I must say that pretty much everything he has ever made is worth watching, including seemingly marginal work for television.

Despite being often mistakenly labeled as a “Czech New Wave” director, he actually never filmed anything in this typical “cinema verité” style. Similarly to Václav Vorlíček, Karel Zeman, Jindřich Polák or Oldřich Lipský, he belonged to the parallel line of Czech genre filmmakers, inventing their own imaginary worlds as a way to escape reality. 

He is now mostly famous for his frequent flirting with horror (besides the above mentioned, in A Touch of a Butterfly(1973),The Ninth Heart (1979) or  Ferat Vampire (1982)), but he also made a whodunit Sign of the Cancer (1965), fantasy musical Limping Devil (1968), melodrama A Day for My Love (1976), gangster movie parody Bulldogs and Cherries (1981), post-apocalyptic fantasy The Magpie in the Whisp (1983) or absolutely brilliant 6-part tribute to silent era slapstick comedies Gagman (1987). And much,much more than that. He is already missed.

The Cremator(Spalovač mrtvol) (Juraj Herz, 1969).

Rudolf Hrušínský, The Cremator(Spalovač mrtvol) (Juraj Herz, 1969).