‘Intimate Lighting’ or — Interminable Boredom ?

So this might sound like total sacrilege to any fans of the Czech New Wave out there, and I’d normally count myself one of them, but tonight’s movie was Ivan Passer’s ‘Intimate Lighting’ (1965) and the unanimous consensus was that it was somewhat… dull?

I know it is regarded as one of the most important Czech movies ever made but I’d be lying through my teeth if I said I’d enjoyed it. It got some nice elements — vibrate black and white cinematography, naturalistic performances, there’s a cat — but the humour in this film is so understated, so subtle to be almost nonexistent. Then again, I’m not Czech and living in the 1960’s so am more than likely missing out on a tonne of political and social context that would make this movie resonate, even just a little, for me.

Afterwards, my friend David looked up some details about it, informing me that the Czech authorities banned it for twenty years. “For being so boring?” I replied. Not that David had nicer words to say about it, declaring it “subversively dull”.

Although maybe that’s the point of the film as it seems a lot of its acclaim is because it did specifically focus on the lives of the everyday, shunning party politics completely. Even the film’s own producer called it “the most boring movie ever made” and sometimes, sometimes, producers aren’t wrong.

Then again, maybe it was just the two of us and we’re missing whatever it is that makes this movie work for so many others or have had our senses deadened by too much 21st Century stimulation. I mean, if you’re a fan of everyday depictions of rural life in 1960’s Czechoslovakia then maybe this movie will pin you to the wall and blow your fucking mind. Personally speaking, this is a movie where I found the background to it more fascinating and interesting than the actual movie itself.

Not as good as ‘The Fireman’s Ball’ (1967), ‘Closely Observed Trains’ (1966), ‘The Cremator’ (1969) and most certainly not as good as ‘Daisies’ (1966) but maybe worth a watch if you’re a Czech New Wave completionist