Sběrné surovosti (1965)

Directed by

Juraj Herz

Genre

drama film, short film, comedy film, parable

Country

Czechoslovakia

Runtime

32 min

Rating

6.7 of 10 from 13 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A short film set in a chaotic junk shop. The story follows a put-upon shopkeeper dealing with a missing-toothed scoundrel, a talkative older woman, and other eccentric customers.

quirkybizarrecomedicdisquietingabsurdlivelyoffbeatwry

What happens

The Junk Shop (Czech: Sběrné surovosti) is a 1965 Czechoslovak comedic short film directed by Juraj Herz, based on a story by Bohumil Hrabal called Baron Prasil. It is the very first film made by the director. Though his very first film, it displays his knack for bizarre, disquieting and creepy visuals that will become more prominent throughout his career. This film was originally intended to be part of the anthology film Pearls of the Deep but it was excluded due to its running time being too long. The film follows a group of comical patrons and shopkeepers at a local junk shop, including Hanta (Václav Halama), the titular Baron Prasil, a pervert, comedian and scoundrel who is missing his front teeth, his boss Bohoušek (František Ketzek), a straight man who is constantly aggravated by the odd personalities at his shop and Mařenka ( Bobina Maršatová ), a beautiful woman who lives on the next floor who Bohoušek admires. Hedvicka is another young woman Bohoušek admires though she offends him when she mentions the scale he steps on lists his weight as 364 pounds. "Cleo" is another patron, an older Hindu woman with facial hair growing in who constantly irritates Bohoušek with tales of her former youth and beauty. The cast is largely non-professional actors which is not unusual for the Czech new wave. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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