Talking to a fellow IMDber on IMDb's European Cinema board about Czech cinema,I got told about a Czech Comedy that they were after.Looking round for info,I happily stumbled on the title with English Subtitles,which led to me getting ready to pass the pen.
The plot:
As new machinery is coming into the workplace, lead factory worker Jiri Kroupa is told that he must learn new skills,or he will get the sacked.Originally believing that he has no need to learn the new skills,Kroupa (and his fellow workers) decide to learn their new skills at the same school that Kroupa's son Jirí Kroupa jr. attends.Turning up for their first day at "school" Kroupa and his fellow workers show themselves to be more childish than the children at the school.
View on the film:
Following the workers into school,director Oldrich Lipský and cinematographer Jirí Macák write on the blackboard in wonderfully drab 70's Sit-Com colours,with the school being covered in fading yellows and tobacco browns.Avoiding any satirical notes for most of the movie, Lipský slides the movie into vibrant Sci-Fi,as computers become the new major workers.
Sending Chinese whispers round the school,the screenplay by Ladislav Smoljak & Zdenek Sverák take sheer delight in making the adults naughty school children,as one liners hit the teachers whilst notes asking other students out are passed around.Doing everything to avoid going back to school, Jirí Sovák gives an excellent performance as Jirí Kroupa st.,who Sovák fills with a delicious stubborn attitude,which breaks as Jirí Kroupa st. has to pass the pen.
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