WILD FLOWERS

Muggles take warning, for magic abides herein! Consider that while the estimable Peter Jackson is taking three whole movies to tell a single story in his mighty “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, F.A. Brabec brings no fewer than seven folkloric narratives to life in WILD FLOWERS. All these tales derive from a famous collection by 19th-century Czech balladeer Karl Jaromir Erben (a writer sometimes compared with Edgar Allen Poe), and they sprout from seeds sewn by the ancient superstitions, oral tradition, sensuality and spirituality of Eastern Europe. The various episodes invoke fearful witches, capricious fate, dire curses, lustful water-dwellers and the grisly walking dead. Brabec brings this omnibus brought to the screen with vibrant visuals, resonant emotion and translated dialogue that preserves the splendid poetic cadence of the original works. Soar with ghosts, dance with kings and marvel with new-born eyes at a roiling cinematic cauldron, an alchemical synthesis of virtuoso filmmaking, music and fantasy not seen since Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's “Tales of Hoffman.” (In Czech with English subtitles)