Zahrada
Slovak Republic,
1995, 99 min
Shown in 1996
CREDITS
- dir
-
Martin Sulik
- prod
-
Ridolf Biermann
- scr
-
Martin Sulik, Martin Loscak, Ondrej Sulaj
- cam
-
Martin Strba
- editor
-
Dusan Mipko
- cast
-
Roman Luknar, Marian Labuda, Zuzana Sulajova, Jana Svandova, Katrina Vrzalova, Dusan Trancik
- source
-
Charlie’s Ltd.
- premiere
-
North American Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Martin Sulik in person. This was the closing night surprise film, 1996.
OTHER
An appealingly eccentric view of a world where miracles seem natural and the ordinary becomes miraculous, The Garden made a deserved minor sweep of the awards at last summer's Karlovy Vary Festival, as well as winning the top award for fiction at the Prix italia (one of the most important TV competitions outside the U.S.). It's the story of Jakub, an indolent young man whose life just isn't quite working out. He hates his job, his affair with a married woman is doomed and he and his father aren't getting along. When his father kicks him out of the house, he retreats to his late grandfather's abandoned country cottage and decides to change the course of his life. He comes across his grandfather's journal and through it rediscovers the simple things in life: he learns to cut grass with a scythe, to prune trees, to make his own slivovich (prune liquor) and to bake bread. His return to nature, as well as the influence of an odd neighbor girl, allows Jakub to see the world in a new way, a world where wonders abound. But the real wonder here is Slovak director Martin Sulik himself and his wide-eyed, penetrating vision of the tenderness of life. The entire cast turns in solid performances, matched by the film's rtechnical craftsmanship. Sulik proves himself a director to be watched far beyond the reaches of his central European homeland.
FACTOID #300
When she attended the 1980 San Francisco International Film Festival for a tribute, Federico Fellini’s wife and muse Giulietta Masina, admitted that she accepted a bit part in the American film The Madwoman of Chaillot (despite the fact that she could not speak English) just so she could get costar Katherine Hepburn’s autograph.
