Films A-Z
Jan Klusák ? Axis Temporum
Jan Klusák ? Axis Temporum
Dan Krameš / Czech Republic / 2009 / 57 min.
Even though the composer Jan Klusák doesn't like to hear it said about him, the expression "renaissance man" automatically comes to mind in his case. Besides composing more than 200 pieces, he has also worked as a writer and librettist and acted in films by Jan Němec and Věra Chytilová, as well as at the Jára Cimrman Theatre in the 1970s. In Dan Krameš's poetic black-and-white documentary, which makes copious use of family photographs and artistic illustrative footage, a person's story is presented which mirrors some of the most tragic moments of the 20th century. It is the story of a person for whom music is an attitude to life. Even in the 1950s, despite the success of his compositions at the Biennale de Paris, his original music was considered by the communists to be "toadying to the imperialist West." His novel compositions were then definitively silenced during the period of communist entrenchment of the 1970s following the Prague Spring. But not even this prevents the enormously vital Jan Klusák commenting on his life in the film with humour and a great sense of perspective.
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