It was good timing that got me to the Chauvel Cinema for the opening of the Czech festival last night invited by furious pizza maker Vlad Blazek to see a rare treat from the Czech New Wave, I managed to scrounge up enough pennies to pass the troll at the gate.
The Ear (Ucho) is a fantastically well crafted film, using one setting and raw camera techniques to create an unsettling feeling of dread.
Filmed in 1970 by Karel Kachyna and subsequently banned by the government, The Ear is a darkly satirical look at the oppressive surveillance used by the Eastern European countries in the 70s. a man and his wife return home from a party only to find that their power and telephone connection have been cut.
Kachyna uses the cut power to film the first half of the movie in darkness, adding a desolate gloom to the screen. The husband finds small clues that suggest that he’s being watched, and he pours through his memory of the party to try and recall if he said anything that could be construed as ‘against the Party’.
It’s a brilliant use of a setting, and it could almost be thrown right in the middle of a Romero zombie movie, with the shadows and flickering candles adding so much texture and depth to the screen that the audience feels nervous.
Kachyna makes excellent use of sinister comedy. the husband and his wife trade vile barbs at each other, then moments of sweet intimacy. The relationship between the two is so frenzied, akin to a rollercoaster, that you can’t be sure of the couple’s real feelings, though it feels satisfyingly realistic.
The Ear moves slowly, like an inchworm, dropping small details and names at a snail’s pace. It would be infuriating, as we’ve all nursed on the quick slap style of the MTV directors, but Kachyna teases us so skillfully that it’s tremendously enjoyable to watch the couple sit there and do nothing. Well, drinking vodka, at least.
I say: You’d be lucky to find this one playing in an Australian cinema, so if you get the chance, snap it up. From the Seattle Pi: “There’s not a more acerbic, scathing or compelling critique of the Communist regime.”
See it for: The wife brings a lot of the comedy to the film. I believe the actress is Jirina Bohdalová, and she bring a venomous voice to the screen.
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