christopher-underwood A very slight film with a certain amount of charm but too weighed down with the gawky and seeming inept young hero. The girls are all fine and surprisingly erotic but apart from one guy at the station who seems to get all the action, everyone else seems too old, too crazy or just too awkward. It looks good, in that 60s New Wave sort of way. Because of the similarity of such Czech films of the period I have seen it pondered as to whether the films were like this because the people of that country have a very strange relationship with sexual activity or whether it was simply the style generated by the one film school that gave rise to this particular group of directors. More interesting than the film, I'm afraid. But there are fine moments - the horse ridden across the tracks and out of the steam, its lady rider adjusting her seating, the delightful young girl who lays down to be rubber stamped up to her bottom but it isn't quite enough to make this as good as the Milos Foreman films just before and just after.

Pavan Bhat Closely Watched Trains by Jiri Menzel is a film that particularly deals with youth and its connections with memories and its various afflictions. It has a rather inter-weaved plot, wherein both memories and trauma are treated on the same wavelength. Memories and trauma go hand in hand, as is evident in the portrayal of events on screen, where a young man tries to get comfortable with the fact that he still remains a virgin, despite having made a few attempts to get rid of that tag.The humanistic side of a young boy trying to come to terms with the uncertainties of his mind and trying to dash all its insecurities forms the formal narrative of this film. Introspection is not merely about looking into one's own self with a degree of contemplation or thought. It helps one with a better understanding of one's own taste and preferences. This is exactly the topic that has been dealt with in this film with utmost care and affection. Films are an effective way of expressing one's ideas or ideologies. With films, there is freedom for a viewer to be either subservient to the film maker or choose not to take back anything at all. It is certainly one of the standing points in this film, because every event that is part of the film is deeply connected with every other event in this film, and elimination of even a single event would spell certain downfall of this profoundly deep narrative. The finesse with which Jiri Menzel has treated this subject is outstanding. The incessant fixation of a youth for love is closely linked to the mind's preoccupation with the urge for primal sex. This has been externalized in the form of the protagonist's station senior, who seems to overshadow all the activities of the seemingly boring station with his sexual prowess and exploits. He manages to invite the wrath of the station master, who can't seem to part with his love for pigeons, while also playing the role of the protagonist's unofficial sex expert, again carefully dealing with topics of longing and love, which are closely associated with the way the mind treats its memories and creates a persona out of certain traumatic experiences.

Jackson Booth-Millard Featured in the book of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, this Czechoslovakian film when I read more about sounded like something that would be interesting to watch, and I remember the distinctive image of the lead character, so I watched hoping for the best. Basically, set during World War II, at the time where Germany were losing to the other countries of the world they were fighting, young Miloš Hrma (Václav Neckár) is employed by a small railway station, but his is not being paid. The stationmaster Max (Vladimír Valenta), who enthusiastically breeds pigeons, is jealous that Hubička (Josef Somr) has so much luck with women, and he meanwhile is trying to help Miloš lose his virginity, specifically with the woman he has attraction for, conductor Máša (Jitka Bendová). Things are disturbed at the railway station when Zednicek (Vlastimil Brodský) the counsellor and Nazi supporter, but Miloš does manage to spend a night with Máša, but it is not a successful, and he tries to commit suicide. Having been saved, a doctor assures him that his premature ejaculation during sexual activity and not is completely normal, and he recommends he should consider losing his virginity to an experienced woman. There is some flirting by Hubička during the night shift with telegraphist Zdenička (Jitka Zelenohorská), and her use the office's rubber stamps to cover her buttocks, and soon after her Mother (Pavla Marsálková) approaches his superiors to complain. Because of this scandal the inspector job is no longer available to the stationmaster, the Germans meanwhile are having their trains blown up and attacked by the occupying army and they are becoming nervous, and the station is threatened by an attack. The bomb is delivered to the station by young artiste/circus performer Victoria Freie (Nada Urbánková), and she is the one requested to help Miloš to lose his virginity, and he seems to set kind of booby trap, but in the end, although he is successful in his pursuit for manhood, he dies during the events. Also starring Alois Vachek as Novak the station's assistant and Ferdinand Kruta as Uncle Noneman. Neckár makes an interesting lead character, you can sort of see him as an early version of Jim from American Pie or something, it is certainly not in the teen comedy kind of field with the wanting to lose virginity plot, but it certainly makes for some amusing scenes, and then of course you have the harsh war moments as well, all together creates a worthwhile Second World War comedy drama. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, it was nominated the BAFTAs for Best Film and Best Sound Track, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film. Very good!

poe426 Without a doubt, one of the greatest "small scale" cinematic stories ever told. Every beautifully-composed shot is a black and white work of art. The performances all around are sound. The direction is superb. Milos (the main character here) is not unlike the pigeons kept by the stationmaster and his wife: he is caged (repressed) and manages, with not some degree of awkwardness, to finally "break free" of his fetters... just in time for World War Two to literally come thundering down the tracks at him. "Everything flies that has wings," the "seduced" girl says, at one point. In the end, Milos finds his manhood in the ultimate release.