Summary
Despite its title, this 1990 film from director Vít Olmer is entirely unrelated to the song showcase film Ta naše písnička česká (The Good Old Czech Tunes, 1967) from director Zdeňek Podskalský. The title song by Karel Hašler is only heard at the very end of this tragicomedy, which charts 20 years of the life of a violinist forced, instead of playing quality music, to only perform either what others request, or what will make him some money. After 1968, Jan Rošetský (Jan Hartl) ends up working in a boiler room, only occasionally able to return to his beloved violin. Rošetský’s life-long nemesis becomes Karel (Bronislav Poloczek), the manipulative head of a music agency. But the relaxation of the rigid (political) climate comes too late for the violinist. But for Olmer’s film these very events offered salvation – the filmmakers were in production for so long, that the 1989 Velvet Revolution enabled them to complete the project with a free hand.
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