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      Black Peter

      Released Jul 20, 1971 1h 22m Drama List
      Reviews 73% Audience Score 250+ Ratings In Czechoslovakia in 1963, an aimless youth named Petr (Ladislav Jakim) begins his first job as a security guard in a busy self-service supermarket; unfortunately, he's so shy that even when he sees shoplifters, he can't bring himself to confront them. He's similarly tongue-tied around the lovely Asa (Pavla Martinkova), and during the lectures about personal responsibility and the dignity of labor that his blustery father (Jan Vostrcil) regularly delivers at home. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

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      Nathanael Hood Unseen Films Though rough and amateurish, Black Peter is a fascinating starting point for the defining figure of the Czechoslovak New Wave. Rated: 5/10 Jun 20, 2020 Full Review Rob Aldam Backseat Mafia Black Peter mixes elements of cinéma vérité, documentary and black comedy to create an authentic, wry and amusing coming-of-age fable. Oct 31, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member Come aboard Forman's extremely funny comedy and learn to correctly pronunciate "hello" in Czech: AHOJ AHOOOOJJJ AHHOOOOOOOOJJJJJJ *mumbles Ahoj* AHHHOOOOOOOOOOJJJJJJJ!!!! ahoj With his first official fully fictional feature length movie, Milos Forman just made what is unquestionably one of the funniest films of the entire Czech New Wave. Forman consolidated his comedic trademark vision with <i>Cerny Petr</i>, where the humor started to emanate in the most subtle of ways, but always very explicitly, mostly consisting in marital disagreements, domestic settings, verbal puns and a parentally misguided youth reminiscent of Truffaut's Nouvelle Vague origins in 1959. This time, the performances look more experienced and less hesitant, the screenwriting seems more carefully planned, the pacing is more adequate and the gags are timed perfectly, from the visual to the intrinsic and the verbal ones. At the core, this can be seen as a humorous analysis of youth in a changing society, simultaneous to the change of the Czechoslovak nation during the 60s and the change of cinema as well. Beyond that, it is much more. To begin with, it was the necessary stepping stone for the director's vision to be perfected, and for his collaboration with Ivan Passer (director of <i>Intimate Lighting</i> [1965]) to be consolidated. Looking at Passer's 1965 debut, it is easy to spot his visual and mood influences of humor in <i>Cerny Petr</i>. After writing <i>Konkurs</i> (1964), he would then proceed to help with the screenplay of Forman's two subsequent masterpieces, <i>Loves of a Blonde</i> (1965) and <i>Firemen's Ball</i> (1967). Secondly, this film is the first notorious effort by Forman to technically adopt the eccentricities of the international New Wave movement, with more French influence than anything else. With improvised dialogues, jumpy cuts, a hand-held camera, a couple of art references, and in-door evolvement of situations, this film proved to be an important step forwards in the director's vision and capacity to envision comedic material to be adapted to film. Fully recommended but with full attention from the audience to capture as much of the subtle humor as possible, <i>Cerny Petr</i> is a multi-faceted bold piece of comedy with most of its goals successfully accomplished for the sake of cinema evolution and comedic experimentation. 80/100 Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Slow and podding at times, Black Peter suffers from too little substance. There is not enough plot or character insight to make this a great film. It does however contain some nice moments, and some interesting formal work which are enough to make this film worth a look. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Before Milos Forman's Loves of a Blonde, Forman's films where rather poor and misirable after my opinion, and this is one of them, a film that cannot consentrate on one goal. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member Petr è un ragazzo sedicenne come tanti altri della sua età: i suoi pensieri sono principalmente rivolti alle amicizie ed agli amori e, complice la giovane età, non si preoccupa troppo del suo futuro. Tuttavia il padre pretende molto da lui: riesce a trovargli un posto come guardiano e aiutante in un supermercato della zona ma, accortosi in seguito dello scarso impegno del figlio e delle scarne prospettive, lo incoraggia a seguire le orme di alcuni suoi coetanei e di diventare muratore e futuro capomastro. [it.wikipedia.org] Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member when a genious makes his first film, he is still searching for the right path. and yet, the film is quite amazing. and funny: 'why are you looking at the grass?' 'green calms the eyes' 'is that why cows are so calm? sorry, didn't mean it that way...' ;) Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member WTF?!?!?!?!??!!!???? I know its old, but the language of cinema has not changed THAT much... Just a bad movie taking way to long to create a lazy tempo just to tell us that slow life and growing up can be both boring and bothersome... One star for the occassional laughs (great dancing moves...) Two thumbs down for Milos... Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis In Czechoslovakia in 1963, an aimless youth named Petr (Ladislav Jakim) begins his first job as a security guard in a busy self-service supermarket; unfortunately, he's so shy that even when he sees shoplifters, he can't bring himself to confront them. He's similarly tongue-tied around the lovely Asa (Pavla Martinkova), and during the lectures about personal responsibility and the dignity of labor that his blustery father (Jan Vostrcil) regularly delivers at home.
      Director
      Milos Forman
      Screenwriter
      Jatoslav Papousek, Milos Forman
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      Czech
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Jul 20, 1971, Limited
      Release Date (DVD)
      Aug 17, 2004
      Runtime
      1h 22m