81 The Sun in a Net

[Bikey]

A superb, inventive and highly rewarding work that really deserves to be seen.

Letterboxd

[Bikey]

"The Sun in a Net more than deserves to be rediscovered. The film can be easily situated amongst the formal innovation of early Truffaut and other formalist innovators of the European New Wave. What's more, it's youthful, fresh and rewarding, with all the sounds and sensuality of those seemingly endless hot summers of adolescence"

Cine-Vue

[Bikey]

View and re-view: some thoughts on The Sun in a Net - Cinematic Investigations

[Bikey]

"Fuelled by a quirky jazz jive and recorder motif soundtrack, world class cinematography and a few interesting stylistic choices, 'The Sun in a Net' makes for intricate, sensual entertainment."

Cinemas Online

[Bikey]

"Another terrific rediscovery by Second Run, handsomely presented... Blending social realism with cinematic poetry, The Sun in a Net is a must-see for anyone with even a passing interest in the Czech New Wave or, I would suggest, world cinema in general. Highly recommended"

Cine Outsider

[Bikey]

London Evening Standard's Steve Morrissey

[Bikey]

"You could easily file this in line with some of the other pivotal films made around it like The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The 400 Blows, and its most frequent point of comparison, Antonioni's L'avventura... The result is a film that still feels remarkably fresh and alive, a major revelation...looks perfect, with many striking images looking like they're about to punch out of the TV screen"

Mondo Digital

[Bikey]

"A striking, relevant, provocative and influential cinematic experience. Full of angst and intelligence, The Sun in a Net displays a unique brand of poetic melancholy that can then be found in some of the films to follow in its footsteps... reminds us just how potent young and innovative cinema movements can be."

Front Row Reviews

[Bikey]

The Sun in a Net reviewed in the latest Sight & Sound

[Bikey]

DVD of the Month at Beaver

[multivitamin]

Belated plaudits from me. Totally understand why this movie was so influential for Czechoslovakian avant-garde filmmakers in the 60's. Probably my fave release from Second Run considering Czechoslovakian new wave classics, just after "Marketa Lazarova" obviously:)

[Bikey]

Thanks for the kind words multi.
Anyone fortunate enough to be in Leeds area today can catch The Sun in a Net at Hyde Park Picturehouse at 4pm - screening as part of this year's Leeds International Film Festival

[Bikey]

"Another must-have release on the Second Run DVD label"
Peek-A-Boo magazine

[knives]

This is such an amazing movie that the disc by virtue of being dedicated to it has become one of my favorites of the year. I mean this movie has a POV shot of a creek. That alone is a genius I'm surprised doesn't pop up more often. The film isn't just different from its Czech counterparts in language, but also visual grammar. The film is highly stylized, but in a way so subtle I thought at first it might traverse like a Polish film. Thankfully no with this entirely unique, to me, beast. Everything about at first feels so incidental and familiar. Only as the film moves and explores with sight and sound in a way that recalls Henri Bergson does the weight that it carries unveils itself. I'm not even entirely certain if my brain is making up the film's non-linearity yet that impression expands the memory of the film into the epic giving the sense of generations in its moment. There's about a million things to grasp on to the story of the film, but for me all of these quiet movements built on this sense of family, particular to the mother, where maturity and the sacrifice of life had an almost childlike melancholy which in the end re-enforced this need to act out life. By which I mean the mother's separation left me more comfortable with not being dead if that makes any sort of sense.

I really hope that SR or some other company will be afforded chances to release even more of Uher's work in english after this.

[Bikey]

This is such an amazing movie that the disc by virtue of being dedicated to it has become one of my favorites of the year...
I really hope that SR or some other company will be afforded chances to release even more of Uher's work in english after this.

knives, thanks... it's great to know that this beautiful film affected you so deeply. It's a film which we too re-watch to always find another layer.
And there will be more Uher from us later in 2014.

[knives]

That's wonderful news. The Hames essay gives a real sense of the enormity of what's not available in english speaking territories.