#A Report on the Party and the Guests 1966 film review

[czechfilmreview]

A Report on the Party and the Guests (O slavnosti a hostech) - Jan Němec, 1966

A Report on the Party and the Guests (O slavnosti a hostech) – Jan Němec, 1966

Political satire can take many forms, but sometimes all that’s required is some actors, a few tables and chairs, and a patch of woodland. That’s all Jan Němec needed for A Report on the Party and the Guests, his abstract but high impact critique of life under communist rule in Czechoslovakia. It was considered scathing enough that it allegedly had Antonín Novotný, the president at the time,…

[natehoodreviews]

400 Words on A REPORT ON THE PARTY AND THE GUESTS [1966] ★★★½

Perhaps the most famous movie scheduled for competition at the ill-fated 1968 Cannes Film Festival was Miloš Forman’s absurdist parable The Firemen’s Ball. Remembered as a touchstone of the Czechoslovak New Wave, it skewered the country’s Communist authorities with a highly allegorical story of a small town volunteer fire department trying and failing to throw an annual ball, raffle, and beauty pageant. But curiously, it wasn’t the only Czech film in competition that year that hid withering criticisms of authoritarian regimes within surrealist allegory. The other was Jan Němec’s A Report on the Party and the Guests, a film which countered Forman’s smirking cynicism with defiant anger. The film centers on seven urban socialites picnicking in the countryside. In the middle of their revels, they’re shanghaied by a group of thugs who force them to stand in a circle drawn in the dirt and be interrogated by a cruel, mentally unbalanced man-child named Rudolf (Jan Klusák). When one of the seven gets fed up and steps outside the circle he’s swiftly captured and beaten. Properly chastened, the group is rescued by an unnamed host (Ivan Vyskočil) who shepherds them to his daughter’s wedding party at a nearby lake which is also serving as his birthday celebration. Once there, the seven vacationers endure even more bizarre behavior as the host’s violent mood swings cause him to snap at imagined slights. Eventually the seven notice that one of their party has fled, and when the host leads the other guests off into the woods to hunt him down with dogs they try their best to ignore their former friend’s fate. Němec was extremely careful to avoid any overt political finger-pointing, and as such the film contains almost no one-to-one symbolism. (The closest he came was casting Vyskočil—who looked suspiciously like Lenin—as the host. The Rudolf character who’s revealed to be the host’s adopted son could also stand in for any number of spoiled Communist scions like Vasily Stalin.) Nevertheless, the film was banned by Czechoslovak authorities and Němec forced to flee the country. Unlike Forman, Němec was never able to translate his talents into Hollywood success, so his reputation—and his films—never reached the same heights as his fellow Czech. And though Report doesn’t match the comedic brilliance and audaciousness of The Firemen’s Ball, it remains an important piece of Communist-era Czechoslovak filmmaking.

[natehoodreviews]

2020 Year End Compilation

CLASSIC FILM REVIEWS (IN ALPHABETIC ORDER OF RATING)

Columbus [2017] ★★★★★

Tokyo Olympiad [1965] ★★★★★

War and Peace [1966-67] ★★★★★

Castle of Sand [1974] ★★★★½

The Champ [1931] ★★★★½

The Circus [1928] ★★★★½

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen [1962] ★★★★½

A Face in the Crowd [1957] ★★★★½

The Fearless Hyena [1979] ★★★★½

A Ghost Story [2017] ★★★★½

Gloria [1980] ★★★★½

Grand Prix [1966] ★★★★½

The Hellbenders [1967] ★★★★½

In the Family [2011] ★★★★½

Jason and the Argonauts [1963] ★★★★½

Mikey and Nicky [1976] ★★★★½

Now, Voyager [1942] ★★★★½

Paper Moon [1973] ★★★★½

The Pawnbroker [1964] ★★★★½

The Return [2003] ★★★★½

Salesman [1969] ★★★★½

Statues Also Die [1953] ★★★★½

The World [2004] ★★★★½

Blackmail [1929] ★★★★

The Covered Wagon [1923] ★★★★

The Dark Past [1948] ★★★★

Dry Wood [1973] ★★★★

Fall Guy [1982] ★★★★

The Front Page [1931] ★★★★

The Hanging Tree [1959] ★★★★

Hope and Glory [1987] ★★★★

Invention for Destruction [1958] ★★★★

A Japanese Tragedy [1953] ★★★★

Journey to the Beginning of Time [1955] ★★★★

My Brother's Wedding [1983] ★★★★

Never Let Me Go [2010] ★★★★

The Passenger [1975] ★★★★

The Sniper [1952] ★★★★

Songs My Brothers Taught Me [2015] ★★★★

Tight Spot [1955] ★★★★

The Wind [1928] ★★★★

Xiao Wu [1997] ★★★★

Angels Over Broadway [1940] ★★★½

Antonio Gaudí [1984] ★★★½

The Baker’s Wife [1938] ★★★½

The Blood of Jesus [1941] ★★★½

The Brothers Rico [1957] ★★★½

Capricious Summer [1968] ★★★½

Cluny Brown [1946] ★★★½

Cowboy [1958] ★★★½

Daddy Longlegs [2009] ★★★½

Death in the Garden [1956] ★★★½

Excalibur [1981] ★★★½

Eyes of Laura Mars [1978] ★★★½

The Flying Ace [1926] ★★★½

The Funeral [1984] ★★★½

Hedwig and the Angry Inch [2001] ★★★½

High Hopes [1988] ★★★½

Holiday [1938] ★★★½

Housekeeping [1987] ★★★½

Klute [1971] ★★★½

The Lineup [1958] ★★★½

Medium Cool [1969] ★★★½

Parade [1974] ★★★½

The Pearls of the Crown [1937] ★★★½

Peppermint Frappé [1967] ★★★½

The President’s Barber [2004] ★★★½

Rebels of the Neon God [1992] ★★★½

A Report on the Party and the Guests [1966] ★★★½

The Sheltering Sky [1990] ★★★½

The Shooting [1966] ★★★½

Slightly French [1949] ★★★½

The Song of Songs [1933] ★★★½

The Story of Temple Drake [1933] ★★★½

Story of Women [1988] ★★★½

Teorema [1968] ★★★½

Trigger, Jr. [1950] ★★★½

Tunes of Glory [1960] ★★★½

Unknown Pleasures [2002] ★★★½

The Watermelon Woman [1996] ★★★½

The Whole Town's Talking [1935] ★★★½

Wishmaster [1997] ★★★½

Captain from Castile [1947] ★★★

Death in Venice [1971] ★★★

DeN [2001] ★★★

Fairytale [2017] ★★★

A Fistful of Dollars [1964] ★★★

The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice [1952] ★★★

The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid [1972] ★★★

Monstrum [2018] ★★★

Olivia [1951] ★★★

Party Wire [1935] ★★★

Repast [1951] ★★★

Sugar Hill [1974] ★★★

A Taxing Woman [1987] ★★★

Anna Christie [1930] ★★½

Black Peter [1964] ★★½

Johnny O’Clock [1947] ★★½

A Man Called Peter [1955] ★★½

Meatballs [1979] ★★½

Min and Bill [1930] ★★½

Ocean's Eleven [1960] ★★½

Spiritual Kung Fu [1978] ★★½

The Wilby Conspiracy [1975] ★★½

Affair in Trinidad [1952] ★★

Cat Ballou [1965] ★★

If You Could Only Cook [1935] ★★

Little Old New York [1923] ★★

The Magus [1968] ★★

My Lucky Stars [1985] ★★

Phase IV [1974] ★★

Under the Sun of Satan [1987] ★★

Absurd [1981] ★½

Doctor Dolittle [1967] ★½

Evel Knievel [1971] ★½

The Grief of Others [2015] ★½

Half a Loaf of Kung Fu [1978] ★½

Husbands [1970] ★½

Joan of Arc [1948] ★½

Supernatural [1933] ★½

Connecting Rooms [1970] ★

Fearless Hyena Part II [1983] ★

Stray Dogs [2013] ★