Summary
Karel Kachyňa continued his pursuit of the themes of childhood and adolescence in this film set in Prague’s proletarian Žižkov quarter during the 1950s. Following Lásky mezi kapkami deště (Love Between the Raindrops, 1979), the experienced director again chose Žižkov as the setting for a story about a boy coming of age in a formidable era. Though he based his film Blázni a děvčátka (Young Girls, Crazy Guys, 1989) on Vladimír Kučera’s novel of the same name, the episodic storyline is dominated by Kachyňa’s usual flair for poetic cinematographic atmospheres. In the role of the 13-year-old Jirka, who is experiencing his first love, along with longing and pain, is Radim Špaček, today himself a film director. The part of the crazy eccentric Pepíček, whom Jirka looks after, gave Milan Šimáček an opportunity to shine.
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