The Party and The Guests — The Party and The Guests(Blu Ray)

From the mid-60's The Party and The Guests is glumly surreal, at points downright sister and absurd Czech drama, that’s a very thinly veiled comment on government-controlled states. Filmed in crisply bleak black & white- the film tells of a group of friends going for a meant to be a carefree woodland picnic when they get accosted by a group of men who plains for the friends. Here from Second Run, those seekers of great and lesser-known world & arthouse film, is a recent Blu Ray release of the picture. With the disc features a new 4k scan of the film, two commentary tracks, a short film by the same director, and a few other things.

Appearing in the year 1966 The Party and The Guests (aka O slavnosti a hostech, A Report on the Party and Guests) was directed by Prague born Jan Nemec. It was the second full-length film from the director- whose other output took in the likes of 1964 war drama Diamonds of the Night, 1967 love themed anthology film Martyrs of Love, 1991 comedy horror fantasy In the Light of The Kings Love, and 2010’s Heartbeat 3D which is a political mystery thriller filmed in 3D. The Party and The Guests remains his most known/ controversial film, which was banned in Czechoslovakia and remained so for the next 20 years. 

The film's credits roll, with joyous though slightly sinisterly wonky light jazz/ easy listening music playing. It begins with a group of seven bourgeois friends having a picnic in a sunny forest clearing- we have three male and female couples, and one solitary man. The group eat, drink and chat- the talk goes from mild banter, to rather cryptic at times seemingly nonsensical statements & discussion. The mood of the friends seems largely bright, friendly and happy- though there is an undercurrent unease and the absurd.

Fairly soon a group of men appear-who are seemingly led by the smiling, though decidedly sinister Rudolf (Jan Klusák). Rudolf and his men lead the friends into a more open area- pushing most of the group together, drawing a circle around them- there seems little sense, meaning to what they are doing to the friends- but when one of them tries to escape, they mob him- before throwing him up in the air. Next enters a goateed slightly tubby middle-aged man Hostitel (Ivan Vyskocil), who scalds Rudolf- and apologies to the group of friends. As he leads the group to a lavish riverside banquet- with fancy table, chairs, and wax dripping candelabras. With the group been joined by a wedding party. With the remainder of the film seeing the interaction between the two leaders & the banquet attendees, which move between polite & lightly controlling- with things rather coming apart when it’s revealed one of the couple's husbands has left the party.

The film runs at the seventy-one-minute mark, and from the off the feeling of unease & tension slow builds and bubbles. The film is rated U, so there is nothing overtly nasty, violent or provocative here- but what there is in spades is an often woozy and unbalancing feeling of the grimly absurd, sinisterly surreal, and tightening control. I wouldn’t say it’s a particularly easy, or entertaining film- but it’s certainly an intriguing and distinctive creation.

 

Moving onto this new region free disc, we get a new 4k scan of the film- this looks great in both its definition and clarity, really showing off the depth of black and white print. On the extras front, we get a good selection of things- first, off we get two commentary tracks- the first is from writer/ researcher Jonathan Owen who's an expert on eastern and central European cinema, and this is a very in-depth/ detailed track. He begins by discussing the credits, and their use of music and sound. Moving on he introduces the actors as they appear, how they are meant as types/ not fully rounded characters and general comments on the panic scene & its meaning. He talks about how the film uses certain camera angles and shot type to build unease. Later on, he discusses the film's one and only moments of physical confrontation, and how this is put across. He talks about why the film was banned, and if the director meant it to be a political statement. He analyses the placing of characters at the banquet, and its meaning- plus much, much more- certainly a track you could play more than a few times.  
The second track comes from the Projection Booth collective- which brings together film historians Mike White, Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger. And this is also most worthy- though it’s a slightly chattier/ laid back affair. They begin by discussing the banning of the film, government censorship in general, and the director's other work that was censored. They talk about the films low key nightmarish/ Kafkaesque tone, comment on both the gorging of food and pagan natural elements in the picture. They talk about the film's original story which was written by Ester Krumbachová - who is rather an unsung figure in the Czech new wave and mention the strong feminine presence in Czech film. And much more.
Otherwise, on extra front we have an eleven-and-a-half-minute introduction to the film by Czechoslovak cinema specialist Peter Hames- here he talks about its censorship history, about its plot and its meaning. He discusses the use of non-actors throughout the film, and how this was received, and more. A most interesting introduction. The final extra on the disc is The Hand- a 1965 stop-animation short by Jiří Trnka, which sees a character being pushed around and influenced by a giant hand- this runs just shy of the nineteen-minute mark. As with all Second Run releases, the Blu ray comes presented with a glossy inlay booklet- this runs twenty-three pages and features a new substantial essay on the film and director by Michael Brooke, a great selection of stills, and full credits.
 

This Blu ray is another very classy presentation of an important new wave Czech film from the folks at Second Run, with a marvellous print and great selection of extras too. Of interest to those who enjoy sinisterly absurd and unease arthouse cinema, or of course, those who like film that liberal/ cleverly stabs at totalitarian states. To buy direct head by here.