Quick Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
FilmCrave User - wrote on 11/13/2020
Closely Watched Trains has been described as a "gently stated sense of the absurd"and "reminiscent of the Czech New Wave of the 60's". The movie is basically a young man's coming of age story during a harrowing time. The opening scene explains a bit where the main characters final act of heroism comes from (his grandfather tries to use hypnosis to stop the German invasion) . Humor is absurdly used throughout this film somewhat in the same way as in "Life Is Beautiful". It's hard to imagine how you can make a humorous movie about this time in history, but the heroic acts intertwined in both of those movies shows you that it can be done in the hands of the right filmmaker.
Rating of
N/A
Tammy - wrote on 11/11/2020
Very emotional film about a young boy's coming-of-age in war torn Europe. The depth of each character helps the viewer live many of the physical and psychological moments of the time. The new wave film era is very different than what we are accustomed to. It may be difficult for the American viewer to understand why the tragic events of the film are portrayed in the manner in which they are.
Rating of
1.5/4
Filmhog - wrote on 09/14/2009
I loved the novel (by Bohumil Hrabal) on which this film was based, so I was really eager to see it. Unfortunately, it lacked the wit that I remembered from the book and instead turned out to be little more than a rather juvenile sex comedy.
