Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Our Daily Life (1969)

Our Daily Life • Deň náš každodenný (1969)
Our Daily Life • Deň náš každodenný (1969)
Czech New Wave
Genre: Documentary, Drama
Director: Otakar Krivánek
Language: Slovak
Duration: 88 min.
Rating: 7.1
Summary:
A documentary reconstruction of an average family's everyday life.
Our Daily Life is a film written and directed by Slovak filmmaker Otakar Krivánek. It was Krivánek's first feature and was originally intended to be a short documentary but in the course of filming he decided to expand it into a full length film.

It's highly reminiscent of the work and style of Miloš Forman and Ivan Passer from this era; featuring non-professional actors and a free flowing narrative where the scripted and improvised documentary elements blend seamlessly together.

There isn't any traditional dramatic story, just random home movie like moments of the lives of a working class family from Nitra. The parents are both teachers, the father Mišo, teaches construction and engineering at the local technical school, while the mother Gertrude, teaches piano from home. They have three children: one daughter, Miška, who is the eldest and about to graduate; eldest son Marcel is a couple years younger; and the youngest is Miško.

It's a fly on the wall examination of the fascinating relationships and dynamics between husband and wife, parent and child, teacher and student, and also that of awkward teenagers discovering first love. There's the usual bickering and the regret for times gone by, the uncomfortable topic of sex education, the concerns of teachers over the future prospects of their students, and parents over the inevitable growing up of their teenaged children.

There's nothing exactly exciting or even original about it, but there's something about the authentic and simple way in which everything unfolds, no blatant symbolism or cleverly obscured hidden agenda at work here, just some everyday universal issues that almost anyone can relate to regardless of where or when you were born. Sometimes that's all you need for a pleasant and interesting watch.
Bonjour Tristesse
Our Daily Life • Deň náš každodenný (1969)

Our Daily Life • Deň náš každodenný (1969)

Our Daily Life • Deň náš každodenný (1969)

Our Daily Life • Deň náš každodenný (1969)

Our Daily Life • Deň náš každodenný (1969)

Our Daily Life • Deň náš každodenný (1969)

Our Daily Life • Deň náš každodenný (1969)

Our Daily Life • Deň náš každodenný (1969)

3 comments:

d_4 said...

It sounds decent, if I stumble onto an easy way to watch it I probably will.

Mette said...

I didn't know a movie could sound interesting and boring at the same time.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

It's weird and difficult to explain, because it has every reason to end up being boring, but somehow it's not.

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