Favorite Central European Films (allisoncm)
Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary
List activity
326 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
34 titles
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsJerzy StuhrMalgorzata ZabkowskaEwa PokasAn ordinary factory worker buys a camera on the occasion of the birth of his child. The authorities order him to make documentaries about the factory's success. But his endeavor to be truthful leads him to opposition against censorship.
- DirectorAndrzej MunkStarsBogumil KobielaMaria CiesielskaHelena DabrowskaThe story is an odyssey of a little man through Poland of 1930 to 1950. It shows his attempts to cope with a changing world which seems to have no place for him. He has no consciousness of any kind but is always on the verge of turning into a more coherent human being, only to be slapped down. It begins with the hero's childhood. Then comes the first love marred by his unwilling involvement in fascict politics, him being taken for a Jew because of his nose. Later he decides to join the army to charm the girl, but arrives too late for any fighting. He is arrested by entering German troops while he dresses in officer's uniform and mistakenly sent to POW camp as an officer.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsGrazyna SzapolowskaOlaf LubaszenkoStefania IwinskaA naive inexperienced young man spies on a woman who lives across the courtyard, and falls in love with her. He starts using tricks which he hopes will lead to them meeting.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiAndrzej TitkowBlind war veterans tell stories about loss, war, will to live and their dreams.
- DirectorStanislaw RózewiczStarsHanna MikucMaria CzubasiewiczBarbara DziekanA psychological portrait of a young Polish theatre actress, searching for her own way in life. She plays a mechanical dancer in a play "Dance of the Marionette", a complete opposite of her real personality. She lives on her own, occasionally visiting a famous old actress to talk about the theater and taking care of a poor neighbor. She fights her sophisticated mother and rejecting the truth about her beloved father, who died an alcoholic.
- DirectorOldrich LipskýStarsVladimír MensíkJaroslava ObermaierováJosef AbrhámA dark comedy about a murder and its consequences presented in a backwards manner, where death is actually a rebirth. The film starts with an "execution" of the main protagonist and goes back to explore his previous actions and motivations.
- DirectorKornél MundruczóStarsZsófia PsottaSándor ZsótérLili HorvátThirteen-year-old Lili fights to protect her dog Hagen. She is devastated when her father eventually sets Hagen free on the streets. Still innocently believing love can conquer any difficulty, Lili sets out to find her dog and save him.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsTeresa IzewskaTadeusz JanczarWienczyslaw GlinskiIn 1944, during the Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, Polish Lieutenant Zadra and his resistance fighters use Warsaw's sewer system to escape the German encirclement.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsMiroslaw BakaKrzysztof GlobiszJan TesarzA soon-to-be lawyer crosses his path with a taxi driver and a young sinister man.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiPeople of different age, profession and social status answer two simple questions: who they are and what they want from life.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsTadeusz LomnickiUrszula ModrzynskaTadeusz JanczarStory of youth during the German occupation of Poland in World War II who come to adulthood through love and adversity.
- DirectorAndrzej MunkStarsEdward DziewonskiBarbara PolomskaIgnacy MachowskiTwo sketches covering episodes from the World War II. In the first novel, "Scherzo alla polacca", a shrewd son, trying to preserve his skin, ultimately becomes a hero and finds a reason for fighting. He initially tries to avoid underground training to avoid the Warsaw uprising. His drunkenness, disregard for safety and cowardice when sober stated with humorous effect come out as something sane in the world gone mad. His will to survive is more acceptable than any desire for heroic death. The second novel, "Ostinato lugubre", details a hopeless attempt at escape from a prison camp by a man who can no longer stand the confinement and idiocy of the professional soldiers trying to keep up the military preneses in prison. Nevertheless, his escape boosts the morale of his fellow prisoners, while the "escapee" lies hidden from Germans and comrades alike."
- DirectorJanusz MorgensternStarsZbigniew CybulskiTeresa TuszynskaGrazyna MuszynskaJacek is a handsome young Pole who belongs to a drama company. One day, in the streets of Gdansk, he meets Marguerite, a beautiful daughter of the French consul, and immediately falls for her.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiA communist party control committee interrogates a worker and party activist who is to be excluded from the party.
- DirectorAndrzej MunkStarsKazimierz OpalinskiZygmunt MaciejewskiZygmunt ZintelIn 1950, at night, a passenger train kills a man on the tracks. He is Orzechowski, an engineer since 1914. An inquiry immediately follows. Testimony takes the form of flashbacks. Tuszka, the station master, believes Orzechowski was a saboteur; at least one on the inquiry panel agrees. Zapora, the young engineer on the train that hit Orzechowski, gives more complicated testimony about the dead man - stiff-necked, proud, imperious, critical of Zapora and other younger workers. The signalman at the crossing where Orzechowski died also testifies. Can the panel arrive at the truth in a world where workers unite, inferior coal is a badge of honor, and the old order is suspect?
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsJan HartlLibuse SafránkováMartin HubaAn opera troupe in a small town decides to perform Mozart's Don Giovanni. The view behind the scenes uncovers the world of opera without the glitter. A tale of love and disappointment, about music and passionate love-making and about people that live their lives in spite of the opera.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiAfter the doctor's refusal to perform abortion on a 17-year old girl, she and her boyfriend have to cope with the new situation. They both need to learn to take responsibility for their decisions, in spite of numerous hardships facing them.
- DirectorVera ChytilováStarsIvana KarbanováJitka CerhováMarie CeskováAfter realizing that all world is spoiled, Marie and Marie are committed to be spoiled themselves. They rip off older men, feast in lavish meals and do all kinds of mischief. But what is all this leading to?
- DirectorTadeusz KonwickiStarsAndrzej LapickiGustaw HoloubekMaja KomorowskaMiddle-aged Andrzej takes a dreamlike journey to his troubled past, trying to understand his friend's suicide.
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsVáclav NeckárJosef SomrVlastimil BrodskýAn apprentice train dispatcher at a village station seeks his first sexual encounter and becomes despondent when he is unable to perform.
- DirectorViktor TausStarsDidier FlamandOldrich KaiserJirí LábusAt the beginning of their careers Oskar, Max and Viktor created a superstar clown trio called The Busters. Their clownery personified little islands of freedom in the midst of a motionless swamp of resignation during the communist regime of the former Czechoslovakia. An explosive disagreement, however, led to the three clowns breaking up. As it turns out, the clowns, beloved by the nation, can't stand each other. Now, after thirty years in exile, Oskar (Didier Flamand) returns to end his artistic career in Prague. The meeting with his former friends leads to an unavoidable confrontation with now morbidly obese Viktor (Jirí Lábus) and terminally ill Max (Oldrich Kaiser). Even after all this time the question remains the same: who will have the last laugh?
- DirectorWieslaw SaniewskiStarsEwa BlaszczykTeresa SawickaGrazyna SzapolowskaA story of a young woman arrested by police on the day of her wedding for embezzlement, and promptly sentenced to life. She is already pregnant and has her baby in prison. Immediately after birth they are separated and only later Klara finds out that the child had a spine injury in an orphanage. After the years her sentence is shortened and she is released from prison on parole after 12 years.
- DirectorBarbara SassStarsDorota StalinskaStanislaw IgarChristoph PieczynskiTroubled girl from the slums gets a job as a cleaner, finds a boyfriend and wants to turn on a new leaf. But life is not a bed of roses, especially for her.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiAfter looking at photo taken on celebration day when Warsaw has been freed by Polish and Russian soldiers, showing 2 young boys holding guns, Kieslowski tries to find them to discover how their lives went.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsFranciszek PieczkaMariusz DmochowskiJerzy StuhrA short making-of from the set of Kieslowski's feature film "Blizna", which uses a lot the word "Action!" and the slate.
- DirectorBéla TarrStarsJudit PogányRóbert KoltaiKyri AmbrusA husband and wife, drifting apart, reflect on the events leading up to the worst argument of their marriage.
- DirectorNimród AntalStarsSándor CsányiEszter BallaZoltán MucsiA tale about a strange young man, Bulcsú, the fellow inspectors on his team, all without exception likable characters, a rival ticket inspection team and racing along the tracks - and a tale about love.
- DirectorBéla TarrStarsMiklós Székely B.Vali KerekesGyula PauerA lonely barfly falls in love with a married bar singer.
- DirectorJanusz ZaorskiStarsMagda Teresa WójcikZbigniew ZapasiewiczFranciszek PieczkaStory opens with Lucja Krol's husband under the tram. She gives birth to her fourth son on the floor of their new apartment. Neighbor Wiktor, a communist intellectual, befriends the poverty-stricken family but is soon arrested and sent to jail. During the war Lucja narrowly escapes a Nazi roundup at the black market. Her sons hold ardent Communist meetings in their apartment, with her blessing. Lucja works hard, but without complaint. After the war, Klemens is inexplicably arrested, accused by the new regime of being a collaborator. Wiktor, now a high-ranking party member, trying to defend him, himself falls into disgrace. Klemens is tortured to "confess" and dies in jail, a Communist to the end. Lucja is never told about his fate.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerLewis Carroll's poem is read and followed by a free-form animated depiction of images and toys from childhood, repeatedly overturned by a live cat.
- DirectorPavel JurácekStarsLubomír KostelkaKlára JernekováMilena ZahrynowskaLemuel Gulliver (Lubomír Kostelka) has had a car accident and continues his journey across the unknown countryside on foot. On the road he finds a dead rabbit dressed like a man and takes a watch from its waistcoat breast pocket. The half-ruined house that he enters reminds Lemuel of his childhood and brings up a painful memory of a dearly loved girl Markéta who was drowned years ago. Gulliver finds himself in Balnibarbi, a country where he doesn't understand the laws and habits and so continually offends against public decency. It is a day when people are ordered to keep their mouths shut and they force their visitor to follow suit. He faces harsh interrogation and finds it difficult to explain that he is not the rabbit Oscar whose watch has been found in his possession.
- DirectorVera ChytilováStarsBolek PolívkaDagmar BláhováJana SynkováFunny banter about love, sex, social status, and other ideals, while a new railway employee is trained and sent on his first run as driver
- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsVáclav HalamaFrantisek KetzekM. CirmonováJuraj Herz adapts Bohumil Hrabal's story about a man who works in a junk shop.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsLucyna WinnickaLeon NiemczykTeresa SzmigielównaJerzy enters a train set for the Baltic coast. He seems to be on the run from something - as does the strange woman with whom he must share a sleeping compartment.