Rok dábla

This movie is one of the best I have seen this year. I am Czech, and so I don't know how much is lost in translation for American viewers, but the movie is simply amazing. All the musicians in the movie are essentially playing themselves, and Nohavica and Plihal's music is just wonderful. This film showcases the musical talents of two of Czech greats. Every child grows up singing Nohavica's songs, and Plihal continues to be one of the best songwriters alive. This movie documents Nohavica's alcoholism and subsequent rehabiliatory efforts, Plihal's emotional breakdown and year of not saying a single word, and the band Cechomor's efforts to make it big. One of the most evocative scenes of this movie is one where Nohavica and Plihal are supposed to play a concert together, but Plihal just can't bring himself to leave the car. He sits outside during the whole event, and Nohavica has to announce this to his audience. After the concert, people come out to see him and say hi to him in the car, where he is still sitting, and he is so overwhelmed by the attention that he starts spreading newspapers up into the car windows. When Nohavica finally comes out from the concert, he finds his car completely covered with newspaper from the inside. This is one of the many sad, evocative, touching and details-attentive scenes of this movie. Excellent, see it.