Ostre Sledované Vlaky (Closely Watched Trains) Reviews

Jiří Menzel's 1966 masterwork of the Czechoslovakian New Wave captures the country's unique cultural identity via a subversive wartime story based on a novel by Bohumil Hrabal.

Full Review | Original Score: A+

The absurdist fun resonates strongly in the memory.

Full Review

An engaging, dry satire on the the pitfalls of laziness while doubling as a character study.

Full Review | Original Score: 65/100

A note-perfect dissection of how male sexual solipsism and the world at large intersect.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10

Menzel's lyrical tragicomedy, which won the foreign-language Oscar, marks the end of creative freedom; it could not have been made after the Russian invasion of 1968.

Full Review | Original Score: A

Fine, character driven drama directed by Menzel.

| Original Score: 4/5

Never letting one quite forget we're in German-occupied Czechoslovakia and bad things are bound to happen.

Full Review | Original Score: B

Meznel's greatest work, and indeed the pinnacle of all Czech New Wave films.

Full Review

Filmed in minimalist style, it's far more interesting visually than most cluttered and clunky modern Hollywood fare

Full Review | Original Score: B

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4

| Original Score: 4/5

| Original Score: 3/5

| Original Score: 4/5

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10

Full Review

Full Review

Full Review

Full Review