Country:
Czech Republic/Slovakia
Recognizable Faces:
Ivan Barnev
Oldrich Kaiser
...and many other Eastern European names that are hard to pronounce...
Directed By:
Jiri Menzel
I Served The King Of England was recommended to me years ago by my friend and co-movie buff Boris. It's a film that looked appealing, but just not enough to keep me from watching something else instead. It took me five years, a Monday, a gloomy temperature and Netflix to be able to sit down and watch it with Josie. When I said the internet killed my focus capacity, I wasn't kidding. Fortunately enough for me, the movies somewhat lived up to the high praises of Boris, who (his name might be a hint), likes his cinema a little more European than mine. And Euro it is. I Served The King Of England belongs to the tradition of visual magical realism the way Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie and Delicatessen does, with somewhat of a Fitzgerald-esque outlook on a life and glamour.
The movie starts when Old Jan Diti (Kaiser) gets out of jail after almost a fifteen years stint. We have no idea why, but since he's in Czech Republic, my judgmental American inner self hinted at the fact he might not have been so dangerous to society. Then Diti goes in the woods, and starts to dust off one of his old properties and reminisces on his lost youth. He worked in the hotel trade all his life and has some great memories of banging numerous hot women. See, Diti didn't ask anything to anybody, but he runs into Marcela (Zuzana Fialova) who re-ignites his passion. So Diti cleans up his abandoned house and fondly looks back on the years who brought him there. We find out he used his candid temper, his cleverness and his connections to his advantage to weave himself into the most glamorous working environment in the cities. Things get more complicated at the eve of world war two, as Czech Republic falls somewhat into the hot zone and Diti falls in love with an Hitlerian youth.
Visually speaking, I Served The King Of England is a feast. Jiri Menzel makes good use of his creative mind (and his Jeunet influences) to create some of the most breathtaking images. See, Young Diti (Barnev), is not the nicest looking kid and the reason why he gets so much nookie is that he makes women feel appreciated One of his tricks is to transform the naked body of his conquests in works of art and put a mirror over them, to make them appreciate how beautiful he thinks they are. Jiri Menzel is also very apt at moving his camera and making long, complex shots. The orgies (I know, but it's not as bad as it sounds) at Hotel Tichota are filmed with a mastered hand and makes the beautiful chaos of the situation stand out. The transitions in between Young Diti and Old Diti are also very well done and make the character more appealing, emotionally. If you dig the look of the crazy pre-war years and the lush life, you will appreciate the beauty of I Served The King Of England.
Where the movie got on my nerves a little is with its use of magical realism. Jiri Menzel uses the genre to dig himself out of trouble, when he doesn't have to. I Served The King Of England addresses some hard issues about the war and its survivors: The choice between love and your country, the choice between love and reason, the right to love again after fucking up really bad, etc. But whenever you're looking for true emotions, a sign of deep hurt, Menzel pulls back and Diti starts behaving like he's a Walt-Disney character. You know, that "Don't-take-me-too-seriously-I'm-just-a-magical-realism-character" schtick. What's great about Fitzgerald approach to the pre-war years is that he's dead fucking serious. He exposed the truth beyond the images of success and happiness. Jiri Menzel pulled a Jean-Luc-Godard-It's-Only-Art-Leave-Me-Alone kind of statement that is, OH so euro. It's a very interesting movie overall, but it's taking the easy road more than once.
SCORE: 80%
