9 / BD 12 Intimate Lighting

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solent · #1 Post by **solent** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 1:54 am

This wonderfully subtle comedy of provincial life is the debut film of a great director and one of the signature works of the Czech New Wave. Ivan Passer's film concerns the dreams of two musician friends, one of whom, having left their small hometown to become successful, returns to visit the other who stayed behind to become a local music teacher.

Focussing on the humour of the ordinary and routine and stunningly shot by Miroslav Ondricek, the film shows true affection and understanding for all its characters to become that very rare thing in comedy â€“ a work of great originality and universal acceptance.

Special Features

Newly filmed interview with director Ivan Passer.

â€¢ Digitally re-mastered with restored image and sound.
â€¢ New and improved English subtitle translation.
â€¢ Booklet featuring new essay on the film by writer/broadcaster Phillip Bergson.

....
I was expecting a possible Criterion release of this film through HVE. I will get this instead.

This film is highly recommended for any fans of Czech films. In many ways this is like a Forman film. It has that particular mix of reality and true-to-life comedy;.

NABOB OF NOWHERE · #2 Post by **NABOB OF NOWHERE** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:24 am

I have a new copy on NTSC vhs that I'll send to anyone in UK free of charge or for postage only outside of UK if anyone wants a taster.

The Digital McGuffin · Tue Aug 09, 2005 4:45 pm

Wow, there's a generous offer if ever there was one! I'd love to give it a go before picking up the 2nd Run disc if someone's not beaten me to it. YGPM in a few minutes. Cheers!

solent · #4 Post by **solent** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 5:27 pm

The release date of January 2006 has been confirmed by email from Second Run.

Gordon · #5 Post by **Gordon** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 9:37 am

From the newsletter:

Intimate Lighting (Intimni Osvetleni)
A film by Ivan Passer / Czech Republic 1965
(Second Run DVD 009)

"(One) of the ten films which have most affected me" - Krzysztof Kieslowski

"One of the best European films of the 1960s" - Roger Ebert

This comedy of provincial life is one of the key works of the Czech New Wave. It concerns the visit of Peter, a successful classical musician, and his girlfriend, to 'Bambas', an old friend who is the director of a small town music school. There is a family dinner, some amateur chamber music, a funeral, a wake and a late night drinking session. The visit allows the friends to reflect on themselves and how their lives have turned out.

Intimate Lighting is a quietly funny film that has a lot to say about our lives and what we do to get by. Without bitterness, condescension or sentimentality, Passer judges the film perfectly. His debut as a director, he approaches the subject with a lightness of touch and a mature understanding of his characters.

Intimate Lighting was also one of the first features shot by the renowned Oscar nominated cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek. It was the only feature film that Passer completed in the Czech Republic before the Russian invasion of 1968 forced him into exile in the United States, where he continued to make films including the classic "Cutter's Way" (1981).

This Second Run release features a very rare coup; an original extra featuring an interview with Ivan Passer - the first time he has granted an on-camera interview about this film.

Bikey · #6 Post by **Bikey** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:38 pm

DVD Beaver review

DVD Times review

A very expressive review by Graham Hobbs at Movie Mail

and this release also received 4/5 stars in The Times (London) in a brief review last week.

rs98762001 · #7 Post by **rs98762001** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:16 am

What a beautiful film and transfer. Ondricek's photography looks as beautiful, if not more, than anything else he ever shot.

solent · #8 Post by **solent** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 7:53 am

The print used by Second Run is much better than the one I taped off of SBS-TV in 1995. That print was marred by too many artifacts. This print is a pleasure to watch in comparison. [Ditto probably for THE CREMATOR.]

I liked the interview with Passer. (It's in English by the way.) Two revelations here for me: [1] the pre-premier death of the main character Bambas and [2] Lindsay Anderson being intigued by Forman and Ondricek - he was on the set of LOVES OF A BLONDE - this led to him requesting Ondricek for his next film [not cited but probably THE WHITE BUS since IF.... was made in 1968 rather than 1965] causing Ondricek to leave the set of INTIMATE LIGHTING early, at Passer's kind insistence, and leaving Strecha as DP to finish the job. I assume Anderson's Czech connection was through Karol Reisz [an expatriot Czech of no mean talent himself].

Bikey · #9 Post by **Bikey** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:20 pm

4/5 review in the latest issue of Uncut magazine:

Fans of Ivan Passer's Cutter's Way keen to discover where that elusive blend of beauty, humour, acute observation and deep melancholy are urged towards this little 1965 gem. Passer's last film before fleeing from the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, it deals with two musicians - who took different paths - and their reunion in a small rural town one left behind. Beautifully shot and acted, it's a poignant funny-sad affair, as mischevious as it is tender, and hard to forget.

jbeall · #10 Post by **jbeall** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 3:26 am

Just finished watching this and enjoyed it. The Czechs seem to revel in the quotidian, and it gives many Czech movies a real charm. This film is beautifully lit, and features some gorgeous Bohemian scenery. And FWIW, the character of Stepa is a real looker!

There's probably a great comparative paper in here with Kundera's The Joke and Farewell Waltz in terms of treatment of thematic material, although Kundera has the political context in the background, while Passer avoids it altogether.

Anyway, a lovely film, and I'm definitely pleased with Second Run's presentation.

Bikey · #11 Post by **Bikey** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 7:40 am

Hi,

Thanks for your comments about Intimate Lighting. Interesting point re the Kundera comparison. I remember Ken Loach paying tribute to Kieslowski before the network premiere of Blue, a few years ago. In it he said that everything was politics; the way we live our lives, the choices we make, the restrictions that are placed upon us, the traditions we hold dear. I feel this is something that permeates Kundera's work - particularly less overtly political work such as 'Slowness' - and films like Intimate Lighting.

MichaelB · #12 Post by **MichaelB** » Tue May 20, 2008 12:04 pm

I had to dig out Kieslowski's top ten for another project, and thought you might like to see it. It was commissioned by Sight & Sound for its 1992 directors' poll.

1. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, US, 1941)
2. The Kid (Charles Chaplin, US, 1921)
3. Kes (Ken Loach, UK, 1969)
4. La Strada (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1954)
5. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, UK, 1962)
6. A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, France, 1956)
7. The Pram (Bo Widerberg, Sweden, 1963)
8. Intimate Lighting
9. The Musicians (Kazimierz Karabasz, Poland, 1960)
10. Ivan's Childhood (Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR, 1962)

And I see I never posted a link to my own review of Intimate Lighting, so better late than never...

bigP · #13 Post by **bigP** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:38 pm

Can anyone please tell me if this film has gone OOP from Second Run's catalogue? Amazon, HMV and Play are all out of stock of this title, and only one Amazon Market Place user has this listed for a whopping £22.99.

Thanks.

jbeall · #14 Post by **jbeall** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:03 pm

bigP wrote:Can anyone please tell me if this film has gone OOP from Second Run's catalogue? Amazon, HMV and Play are all out of stock of this title, and only one Amazon Market Place user has this listed for a whopping £22.99.

Have you tried ordering it directly from SR?

Bikey · #15 Post by **Bikey** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:44 am

There are NO Second Run catralogue titles out-of-print. Amazon etc.must just be out-of-stock.

bigP · #16 Post by **bigP** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:39 am

Thanks for your replies, greatly appreciated. Intimate Lighting is one of the few SR discs I need to buy and I got a little worried I may have missed my window.

P

MichaelB · #17 Post by **MichaelB** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:42 am

bigP wrote:Thanks for your replies, greatly appreciated. Intimate Lighting is one of the few SR discs I need to buy and I got a little worried I may have missed my window.

Well, don't miss it now - it's an utterly wonderful film, and one of Second Run's best transfers. In fact, I'd say it's the benchmark for their 1960s Czech films.

It's a real tragedy that Ivan Passer didn't make many, many more films like it, because on the evidence of this and the short A Boring Afternoon (available on the Czech DVD of Pearls of the Deep - unsubtitled, but subtitles are floating around on the web so it's possible to watch it with a little effort), he was one of the very best of the New Wave directors, but he only made two (or one and a bit) films in his native country.

Cold Bishop · #18 Post by **Cold Bishop** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:54 am

He did make at least two great American films: Born to Win and Cutter's Way

bigP · #19 Post by **bigP** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:52 am

MichaelB wrote:Well, don't miss it now - it's an utterly wonderful film, and one of Second Run's best transfers. In fact, I'd say it's the benchmark for their 1960s Czech films.

Hehe, well...In light of my panic last night, i rushed off and bought The Ear, and being:

A) A penniless photographer
B) Inundated with pre-orders this week (Valerie and her Week of Wonders, Judex/Nuits Rouges, Still Life)
C) Planning to go crazy with the BFI sale next month

I think i've definately got myself into a bit of strife. Thanks for the high reccomendation though, I'll get it asap.

Bikey · #20 Post by **Bikey** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:25 am

bigP wrote:I think i've definately got myself into a bit of strife. Thanks for the high reccomendation though, I'll get it asap.

Don't worry, bigP, I know the feeling! No rush; in fact, we'll keep a copy of Intimate Lighting aside for you for whenever you order. And you'll not regret getting The Ear - it's a wonderful film.

bigP · #21 Post by **bigP** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:24 pm

Bikey wrote:Don't worry, bigP, I know the feeling! No rush; in fact, we'll keep a copy of Intimate Lighting aside for you for whenever you order. And you'll not regret getting The Ear - it's a wonderful film.

Wow!! Bikey, you are a king among men. I am hugely grateful and i'm certain I won't regret The Ear; i've not regretted buying anything from SR yet, especially the Czech New-Wave films that (until I bought The Party and the Guests) I was a total stranger to.

Well, someone certainly just made my Christmas card list

Thanks again,
P

MichaelB · #22 Post by **MichaelB** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:36 pm

The Ear is terrific - a lot closer to the paranoid atmosphere of The Party and the Guests than the wistful, bucolic Intimate Lighting.

Basically, it's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf as reimagined by George Orwell - and it's not remotely surprising that it was banned for twenty years. (It only got into production in the first place because its screenwriter had friends in very high places).

Caligula · #23 Post by **Caligula** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:01 pm

Blu-ray edition up for pre-order on 30 April

ozufils · #24 Post by **ozufils** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:08 pm

Wow!!!!

Incredible news, one of my very favorite films

MichaelB · #25 Post by **MichaelB** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:10 pm

The really great news, besides the HD upgrade of what I think is pretty much the definitive Czech New Wave film, is that it also includes Ivan Passer’s wonderful Bohumil Hrabal-inspired short film A Boring Afternoon - and in so doing, it becomes a complete survey of the films that Passer directed in his native language.

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