Deciding that one of my last movie viewings of 2020 would be a 80's double bill,I looked for a flick to pair up with Manhattan Baby (1982-also reviewed.) Checking my pile of 80's films waiting to be played,I found a Czech title which I had forgotten about having picked up! This led to me meeting Albert.
View on the film:
Composed a year after fellow former Czech New Wave (CNW) film maker Milos Forman scored a hit with Amadeus (1984), directing auteur Frantisek Vlacil plucks some of his distinctive surrealist strings in this small-scale TV Movie with cinematographer Jaromir Sofr, strikingly breaking Albert's compositions with a violin shattering like it was made of glass.
Bringing the drunk,dying Albert (played with a fitting worn down agitation by Jaroslav Filip) in from the cold, Vlacil strings Albert's last conversations with the likes of Dustojnik (played by fellow CNW film maker Jiri Menzel) icy blue backdrops, reflecting the attempt to thaw the beautiful artistic notes of Albert.
