Cutting It Short (1980)

Original title

Postřižiny

Directed by

Jiří Menzel

Genre

comedy film, comedy of manners, talk show

Country

Czechoslovakia

Runtime

1h 33m

Rating

7.1 of 10 from 50 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A comedy set in a small town brewery in Czechoslovakia during the early 20th century. It follows the lively antics of the townspeople, especially a spirited woman and her eccentric brother-in-law.

whimsicalnostalgicwarmplayfulgentleearthyleisurelyquirky

What happens

Cutting It Short (also released as Shortcuts) (Czech: Postřižiny - literally: First haircut) is a 1980 Czechoslovak comedy film directed by Jiří Menzel. It is based on the novel Postřižiny by Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal. The story is set in a brewery in a Czech small town. The film is an evocation of the childhood memories of Bohumil Hrabal in his provincial town of Nymburk, dominated by the local brewery. The main actors of the film, uncle Pepin and Maryška, are based on real family members of Hrabal: Maryška on his mother and uncle Pepin on his real uncle, who came to stay two weeks in the town but remained for forty years. His spontaneous stories influenced much of Hrabal's literary work. The film was entered into the main competition at the 38th edition of the Venice Film Festival. According to the film critic and historian Peter Hames, Cutting It Short, which frequently quotes or refers to silent comedy, is one of the best post-Tati comedies. Theodor Pištěk designed the costumes for the film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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