133 / BD 37 Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea

[MichaelB]

Confirmed for early 2021:

Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea
Blu-ray and DVD release

From Jindřich Polák, director of the 1963 Czech sci-fi classic Ikarie XB-1, comes another foray into science-fiction with this lesser known but equally impressive feature Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea. But unlike the serious ‘hard’ sci-fi approach of Ikarie, this film is a deliciously demented time-travel romp that manages to be both hilariously silly and impressively ingenious at the same time.

In the near-future, time travel has become a possibility, and a group of neo-Nazi's hijack a time-ship in order to go back to 1944 to deliver a hydrogen bomb to Hitler and thus secure victory in WWII…

Polák expertly balances the film's disparate elements to produce a work of immense pleasure which is unpredictable, irreverent, intelligent and wildly funny - and which emerges one of the great undiscovered sci-fi movies of the 1970s.

“A particularly ingenious and delightful surprise... It's a lovably absurd gem.” Shock Cinema

“[A] fascinating, bizarre but instantly accessible and phenomenally enjoyable movie.” Blueprint Review

Second Run will be releasing Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea on Blu-ray and DVD in early 2021.

Blu-ray and DVD Special features
• Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea presented from a new HD remaster from original materials by the Czech National Film Archive.
• An all-new Projection Booth commentary with Kat Ellinger, Jonathan Owen and Mike White.
• Trailer.
• Booklet featuring a new essay by writer and filmmaker Graham Williamson.
• New and improved English subtitle translations.
• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C) and DVD (‘0’) editions.
• Plus more TBC

[Dr Amicus]

Funnily enough, I've just read an article about this in an issue of Infinity and was thinking it sounded like a possible Second Run release. It sounds really interesting and a lot of fun - the article went a bit further into the story than the teaser here and I'm keen to see how it all transpires on screen.

[MichaelB]

It became an unexpected cult hit on British telly in early 1982 thanks to it starting on BBC2 just as Dallas was ending on BBC1, so people who wanted to skip the news before Match of the Day switched over, to be greeted by a parrot going "Heil Hitler!" and a bonkers opening title sequence involving repurposed footage of Adolf Hitler that would certainly have garnered a death sentence for the person who created it if it had been attempted under Nazi occupation.

Some switched back for Match of the Day, but I gather quite a few didn't - there are fond reminiscences from some of them posted on the IMDB.

[Dr Amicus]

That screening got mentioned in the Infinity article and noted the cult following from it.. I think I remember the strand it was shown in, at least if Derek Malcolm ever introduced it, but didn't watch this at the time.

[perkypat]

Wonderful film. Incredible now to think that the BBC once showed things like this.

[criterionsnob]

Already the best cover of 2021.

Second Run pre-order
Arrow pre-order

[Bikey]

Polák's TOMORROW I'LL WAKE UP AND SCALD MYSELF WITH TEA Blu-ray now just £13.99 pre-order at Amazon UK

[mhofmann]

Polák's TOMORROW I'LL WAKE UP AND SCALD MYSELF WITH TEA Blu-ray now just £13.99 pre-order at Amazon UK

Well, it's not available to pre-order for international customers of Amazon (I live in The Netherlands). This is like pretty much any international Blu-ray pre-order on the various regional Amazon sites.
Seems like they're blocking international customers from doing pre-order business with them. I can't even find the article when using their search; only when using your link, and then it says "Temporarily out of stock. We are working hard to be back in stock as soon as possible.", which is demonstrably untrue.

[MichaelB]

This is not a full-on Czech National Film Archive restoration, merely a decent HD scan of existing archival materials - but it's nonetheless a huge improvement on a rather pasty, murky Czech DVD from the mid-2000s, which has been pretty much the only legal way of getting to see this film outside its native country. Unsurprisingly, the English subtitles are a substantial advance too - with the old DVD, one was grateful to have them at all, but I distinctly recall whoever created them very obviously not being a native speaker. And while a 1.37:1 aspect ratio for a 1977 film might seem a bit eye-opening to the likes of us, it's historically correct - the Czechs carried on using it as their primary cinema ratio for decades after it had been abandoned in the West, and the picture compositions duly look fine.

I'm also very glad to see that Jonathan Owen has been persuaded to make his commentary debut, as he's easily one of the better-informed current English-speaking experts on Czechoslovak cinema, especially when it comes to stuff that's off the well-beaten New Wave track. His big advantage is that he actually speaks Czech, and pairing him up with non-Czech-speaking but more experienced commentators keeps things flowing nicely.

[Bikey]

OUT TODAY.
Full details now up at our website.

[bottled spider]

Great cover design.

I watched this recently on Youtube (sorry!), not seeing it available on Amazon or realizing it was forthcoming. It is worthy of the upgrade and extras. I'd have to watch it again to be sure, but my impression was that, despite being a piss-take of time travel, its farcical plot was still carefully crafted to hang together.

[Bikey]

"Czech comedies made during the country's Communist rule can be odd beasts, but this one's truly in its own orbit with a fast-paced story that often feels like a live-action cartoon. With Nazis. [...]
This is a clever, twisty contribution to the canon of time travel films with a crazy sensibility..." Mondo Digital

[Bikey]

"Anticipating the Back to the Future trilogy by several years, Jindřich Polák's smart, often very funny time-travel mind-bender is based on an appealingly ludicrous premise... [Polák] was primarily a comedy specialist, and here is in his element."
Michael Brooke reviews in the latest Sight & Sound magazine

[therewillbeblus]

This is an excellent exercise in filmmakers finding and holding onto a specific and unique tone; a surprisingly proportioned dose of irreverent humor split into madcap and subtle deadpan, in an even rhythm so as not to topple over itself. I was reminded of L'Apprenti salaud in this regard, though this film isn't as funny (or emotionally affecting) as that masterpiece. Still, this is a film that is so self-consciously gonzo that the "piss-take of time travel" bottled spider mentions is the only way sci-fi could possibly be suited to this affair, and yet there is just enough restraint to coddle the versatile ingredients together without disengaging. I was completely swayed over to a world where airports mention historical characters as destinations, people enter rooms spouting affectless quizzical remarks, and characters yell at their other 'selves' over the phone as if it's common sense that past selves should take advice from future selves sans explanation- and that a response of irritation is reasonable if there's resistance. Social skills seem to resemble a farcical code that all characters here are fluent in but is foreign to us- yes, even those of us familiar with farce- making every scene both unpredictable within itself and in how it flows into the next direction, always novel, exciting, and full of the possibilities of a playful and creative imaginative team. Yet this isn't just a 'throw everything at the wall' approach, as the creators hold a loose, but containing, sense of control that keeps the water at a simmer without ever boiling over. There is a consistency in gravity that grounds us while the loony tunes flounder with impressive energy (Zazie dans le Métro might be the best comparison, though again, these contrasts aren't going to do this film any favors if expectations soar that high since I'm throwing out All-Timers), never flying off the handle into oblivion but always appearing right on the verge. It's hard to describe how filmmakers find such a sweet spot, especially in comedy, so I'll stop the futile efforts and give this a strong recommendation, especially for anyone looking for last minute watching for the sci-fi project.

[Bikey]

Price drop alert! Blu-ray now £13.99 at Amazon UK

[TechnicolorAcid]

This is an excellent exercise in filmmakers finding and holding onto a specific and unique tone; a surprisingly proportioned dose of irreverent humor split into madcap and subtle deadpan, in an even rhythm so as not to topple over itself. I was reminded of L'Apprenti salaud in this regard, though this film isn't as funny (or emotionally affecting) as that masterpiece. Still, this is a film that is so self-consciously gonzo that the "piss-take of time travel" bottled spider mentions is the only way sci-fi could possibly be suited to this affair, and yet there is just enough restraint to coddle the versatile ingredients together without disengaging. I was completely swayed over to a world where airports mention historical characters as destinations, people enter rooms spouting affectless quizzical remarks, and characters yell at their other 'selves' over the phone as if it's common sense that past selves should take advice from future selves sans explanation- and that a response of irritation is reasonable if there's resistance. Social skills seem to resemble a farcical code that all characters here are fluent in but is foreign to us- yes, even those of us familiar with farce- making every scene both unpredictable within itself and in how it flows into the next direction, always novel, exciting, and full of the possibilities of a playful and creative imaginative team. Yet this isn't just a 'throw everything at the wall' approach, as the creators hold a loose, but containing, sense of control that keeps the water at a simmer without ever boiling over. There is a consistency in gravity that grounds us while the loony tunes flounder with impressive energy (Zazie dans le Métro might be the best comparison, though again, these contrasts aren't going to do this film any favors if expectations soar that high since I'm throwing out All-Timers), never flying off the handle into oblivion but always appearing right on the verge. It's hard to describe how filmmakers find such a sweet spot, especially in comedy, so I'll stop the futile efforts and give this a strong recommendation, especially for anyone looking for last minute watching for the sci-fi project.

I agree with everything blus says here, this is a gem of a film and one that I’ll strongly advocate for. However I’ll also add that the film also reminded me quite a bit both of the work of Christopher Nolan in how mind-melting it becomes and Jacques Tati’s PlayTime (the film seems designed to bring out comparisons to All-Timers apparently). And not just in the way the Tomorrow’s universe makes grand things like time travel become pretty much a tourist attraction in the same way Tati covers historical landmarks on posters with drab and commercialized buildings, but also in the sense of controlled chaos that the film revels in. I don’t want to give away anything but the way the final act of the film slowly adds up from a simple “Let’s go back and fix things,” to a jumble of plot lines that somehow still work together feels not too far off from Tati’s restaurant sequence in PlayTime in terms of that style of controlled chaos with everything falling apart at the seems. Anyways, this is a wonderful little comic masterpiece of a film (and if you haven’t seen this, go in as blind as you can, especially in light of the current Czech and/or Slovak list).