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PaperclipPerfector  21d ago (text post)   1671 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for November 1, 2024

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Amazingly I found some actually quality TV. And from my native land! I thought this would never happen. In 2019, HBO produced a Czech TV series. Labelled as fiction, but ..more thoughtful Czechoslovaks would have many a word to say there.

It's called 'The Sleepers' (2019).

Sort of a spy drama, though spies (or sleeper agents) are not the main characters. Almost no James Bond nonsense(implausible feats) except a very little in the middle. You do get to see state-security plainclothes agents casually bullying a lot of people while investigating, British diplomats being unhelpful and so on. A bit like 'True Detective' but about 1980s Czechoslovak dissidents, state security and politics. You have to pay attention because details matter-you'll be bewildered if you're treating it as background. The Czech title 'Unconsciously' is more fitting.

Acting is great - they got 75% of good local actors, the sets are almost perfect - if you want to show some US planned economy enjoyers how eastern bloc looked in 1980s, this is perfect. The screenplay is pretty good. There are a few hiccups, one implausible coincidence and one piece of laughable nonsense, but for TV or cinema it's really, really good. There's even a personal connection: one of the major characters is played by a grand-daughter of 1968-69 minister of planning.

It was produced by HBO but is no longer in their catalogue even in former Czechoslovakia, due to either some merger and sell-off of rights or because it's a 'conspiracy*'.. ThePirateBay has a copy which we watched. There are subtitles to be had here.. Unless you are fluent in Czech, English and Russian you'll need them.

EDIT: fixed some typoes.

Thanks. There isn't enough good Cold War CEE media. Russian companies could be producing great stuff, but the government is too insecure about the past to fund anything that isn't another cut-and-dried drama about a man of duty.

Comrade Detective was unwatchable. On the one hand, it was a too obvious pastiche of an America buddy cop genre to be taken seriously. On the other hand, it was taking itself too seriously to be enjoyable.

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