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Closely Watched Trains
CZECH REPUBLIC · 1966

Closely Watched Trains

Jiří Menzel
coming-of-age sexual awakening world war ii occupation railway station setting resistance movement
Stream on Criterion → ▶ Trailer

Synopsis

At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot.

Cinema Atlas Connection
This Czech New Wave film, which won the Oscar, is about a young man working at a train station during World War II who is trying to lose his virginity. It's got the melancholy, the deadpan, the humor, and it's a very beautiful movie. It's one of my favorites, and a definite influence.
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This Film Influenced

→ The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)