Last week at work I told someone I couldn't care less about the new Star Wars movie. And she told me "Oh, you don't like fantasy movies." And I said that I did, but that I liked good ones.
Well, this weekend I saw a good one. It's a Czech movie from 1970 called "Valerie and her week of wonders". A surrealist, coming of age story, part the fantasies of a 13 year old girl,part myth, part vampire story, part anti-clerical statement and a complete wonder indeed. Describing it is almost an impossibility. It's not a movie that works more at the level of a dream. One has to let go and flow with it just like we do every night when we enter the realm of dreams.
"Valerie" is a gorgeous movie to look at. The music is hypnotic and amazing. And it fulfills my idea of a fantasy movie. There are more whims of fancy and unpredictable story twists than every alleged fantasy movie we see at multiplexes.
I saw "Valerie" on TCM HD. But after seeing it, I ordered a Blu-Ray. I want to see it even better with the full Criterion Collection treatment.
