CUTTING IT SHORT

Last year the Cleveland International Film Festival was pleased to present “Magicians of the Silver Screen,” a tribute commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Czechoslovakian film industry, directed by Jiri Menzel, who was a guest at the screening. Menzel is his country's most popular director/actor. He has delighted audiences everywhere since his 1968 Academy Award-winning “Closely Watched Trains.” The latter film was adapted from the writing of Bohumil Hrabal, who wrote the hilarious screenplay for CUTTING IT SHORT. A period comedy set in the 1920s, the story blends Menzel's uncynical, humorous view of life with characteristic underlying sensuality. Francin (Jiri Schmitzer) is a shy, quiet manager of a brewery, married to flirty Marja (Magda Vasaryova) whose lively spirit endears her to the whole town. Deeply in love, the two are of such vastly different temperaments that things don't always run smoothly, particularly when Francin's less-than-beloved brother pays them a visit. Marja and her brother-in-law Pepin hit it off famously. When Pepin's around, everything hits the fan and the '20s begin roaring as the whole village starts bobbing hair and cutting everything from the horse's mane to the furniture. “. . . lyrically comic. . . full of sunlight and Daumier-like characterization. . .” – San Francisco Film Festival