Chaotic, kinetic, cathartic.
This is what film is about. Though it reminded me very much of Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets (which I absolutely adore), this could have only been made under a Communist regime. Daisies is a big fat indictment against social structures, rigidity, and female stereotypes, disguised as just two girlies having fun.
I loved every single fucking minute of this.
As good as a documentary can get, absolutely riveting and cinematic. You really can't get any closer to the myth that is Bob Dylan than this.
Christ, imagine it's 1965, you're 20-something, and you hear It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) for the first time. I think my head would just fall off.
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool’s gold mouthpiece the hollow horn
Plays wasted words, proves to warn
That he not busy being born is busy dying
Like every biopic that is not Lawrence of Arabia or Mishima, this is of course bland as fuck.
However, few things in my life have been as formative for me as the music of Bob Dylan. Hearing the songs, seeing them being born... I literally sat through half the film with tears in my eyes. By the time His Bawbness launched into Maggie's Farm at Newport? Man, I felt like taking off.
TLDR; only watch this when you're a Bob Dylan enthousiast.
This was my second brush with Czech new wave after the incredible masterpiece that is The Cremator. And while it is too early to speak of a new favourite cinematic movement, I can definitely see it happen in the future.
Very much like The Cremator, this film blends humour, amazing cinematography, and thematics in a unique way. Again against a WWII backdrop, again in a very deadpan style. Coincidence? I don't know. But I can't wait to watch Daisies and Marketa Lazarova.
