Milos Forman: 10 essential films
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filmography
biography
American Masters | PBS Mi
biography
American Masters | PBS Mi
Konkurs (Audition)(1963)
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“Audition” consists of two short films that were released together as one feature film. The first segment “If there were no music” features a short anecdotal plot about two young musicians from rival brass bands. Both young men would rather watch a motorcycle race than play a concert with their bands. In the end, they decide to miss an important concert festival to watch the race.
Both Blumental (the trumpeter) and Vlada (the trombonist) are fired from their bands for this “betrayal.” However, they quickly find new jobs by simply switching bands.The second segment called “The Audition/Talent Competition” is a fake documentary about an audition at the popular Czechoslovak theatre The Semafor (The Traffic-light). This simple story introduces a young pedicurist who wants to leave work so that she can audition.
To solve her problem, she pretends that she’s been called to attend a trial.A young semi-professional singer named Vera also auditions for the part. Despite her advanced singing ability, she suffers bad stage fright and isn’t able to sing a single note. The young pedicurist manages to sing, but her performance is ridiculous. When she returns to work she is accused of lying.Mr. Sebor and Mr. Bor, producers from Barrandov Film Studios, found the material shot at the audition so interesting that they decided to give Forman another chance to make a second short movie so that these two segments could be released together as one full-length film.
Both films function almost like a documentary even though they are mostly staged. Characters are depicted as ordinary people who talk and act naturally, which may sometimes seem ridiculous and funny, but is also very touching. Both films present a sense of the sixties generation – of the havenless youngsters imprisoned in the authoritarian society created by their parents
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“Audition” consists of two short films that were released together as one feature film. The first segment “If there were no music” features a short anecdotal plot about two young musicians from rival brass bands. Both young men would rather watch a motorcycle race than play a concert with their bands. In the end, they decide to miss an important concert festival to watch the race.Both Blumental (the trumpeter) and Vlada (the trombonist) are fired from their bands for this “betrayal.” However, they quickly find new jobs by simply switching bands.The second segment called “The Audition/Talent Competition” is a fake documentary about an audition at the popular Czechoslovak theatre The Semafor (The Traffic-light). This simple story introduces a young pedicurist who wants to leave work so that she can audition.
To solve her problem, she pretends that she’s been called to attend a trial.A young semi-professional singer named Vera also auditions for the part. Despite her advanced singing ability, she suffers bad stage fright and isn’t able to sing a single note. The young pedicurist manages to sing, but her performance is ridiculous. When she returns to work she is accused of lying.Mr. Sebor and Mr. Bor, producers from Barrandov Film Studios, found the material shot at the audition so interesting that they decided to give Forman another chance to make a second short movie so that these two segments could be released together as one full-length film.
Both films function almost like a documentary even though they are mostly staged. Characters are depicted as ordinary people who talk and act naturally, which may sometimes seem ridiculous and funny, but is also very touching. Both films present a sense of the sixties generation – of the havenless youngsters imprisoned in the authoritarian society created by their parents
Cerny Petr (Black Peter)(1963)
The film “Black Peter” presents a sequence of seemingly insignificant events in the life of a 16 year oldsupermarket trainee named Peter. When Peter begins his summer job as a shop assistant, he learns that his main duty is to look out for shoplifters. He would love to laze around all afternoon by the pool, talk to his friends, and flirt with girls, however he is stuck in the supermarket. At the shop, Peter has to deal with his boss’s management. At home, he has to deal with his father’s nagging. Peter’s father is played by the brilliant non-actor Josef Vostrcil.
Peter is a 16 year old trainee at a supermarket, who has to look out for shoplifters when he would rather lie by the pool and look out for girls. Peter starts having problems at work when he doesn’t stop a suspicious looking customer. At home, his pedantic father constantly lectures him, and his girlfriend starts paying a lot of attention to another male friend.The film “Black Peter” captures the essence of an ordinary summer in a small Czech town in the early sixties. This is accomplished with the help of non-actors and Jan Nemecek’s poetic camera. With this film, Forman also expresses the feelings of arising rebellions among the youth in the eastern bloc just a few years before the beginning of The Prague Spring.
The film “Black Peter” presents a sequence of seemingly insignificant events in the life of a 16 year oldsupermarket trainee named Peter. When Peter begins his summer job as a shop assistant, he learns that his main duty is to look out for shoplifters. He would love to laze around all afternoon by the pool, talk to his friends, and flirt with girls, however he is stuck in the supermarket. At the shop, Peter has to deal with his boss’s management. At home, he has to deal with his father’s nagging. Peter’s father is played by the brilliant non-actor Josef Vostrcil.Peter is a 16 year old trainee at a supermarket, who has to look out for shoplifters when he would rather lie by the pool and look out for girls. Peter starts having problems at work when he doesn’t stop a suspicious looking customer. At home, his pedantic father constantly lectures him, and his girlfriend starts paying a lot of attention to another male friend.
The film “Black Peter” captures the essence of an ordinary summer in a small Czech town in the early sixties. This is accomplished with the help of non-actors and Jan Nemecek’s poetic camera. With this film, Forman also expresses the feelings of arising rebellions among the youth in the eastern bloc just a few years before the beginning of The Prague Spring.
Black Peter - Milos Forman | 1964 Full
MAKING (NEW) WAVES: MILOS FORMAN’S BLACK PETER
MAKING (NEW) WAVES: MILOS FORMAN’S BLACK PETER
Lásky jedné plavovlásky (Loves of a Blonde)(1965)
The film starts by poking fun at the social engineering of a socialist regime that tries to solve the lackof single men in a small Czech town with a shoe industry called Zruc-upon-Sazava, by sending a troop of conscripts there. However, a large group of married middle-aged reservists are sent to Zruc-upon-Sazava by mistake. The reservists clumsily try to court the girls at a dance organized to introduce the two groups. This scene is one of the best examples of poetic embarrassment in the sixties. The trusting Andula resists the reservists´ sexual advances but she is seduced by a young pianist from an orchestra in Prague named Milda. One of the tragicomic highlights of the film is their love scene in which Milda repeatedly attempts to pull down the window’s blinds.The naive girl travels to Prague based on Milda’s passing (and insincere) invitation.The story culminates with an absurd scene in a bedroom at Milda’s parents’ apartment. The father, mother and son all lay in one double bed and argue about what to do with the girl. Forman describes the scene: “It’s a tight fit. The old man wants to sleep; the son would like to get thrown out so he can join the girl on the couch, but the mother runs the show and won’t tolerate any such filthy ideas under her roof.“ This scene is one of the most sensitive and bitterest examples of Czech narrow-mindedness.
Forman puts his token emphasis on large scenes that feature mass groups of people by placing the camera in the position of a casual observer to capture a prevailing atmosphere. More than two and a half million filmgoers made “Loves of a Blonde“ the most popular film in Czechoslovakia. “Loves of a Blonde“ was also well received by foreign intellectuals. In 2010 the movie was ranked #89 in Empire magazine´s “The 100 Best Films of World Cinema.”
The film starts by poking fun at the social engineering of a socialist regime that tries to solve the lackof single men in a small Czech town with a shoe industry called Zruc-upon-Sazava, by sending a troop of conscripts there. However, a large group of married middle-aged reservists are sent to Zruc-upon-Sazava by mistake. The reservists clumsily try to court the girls at a dance organized to introduce the two groups. This scene is one of the best examples of poetic embarrassment in the sixties. The trusting Andula resists the reservists´ sexual advances but she is seduced by a young pianist from an orchestra in Prague named Milda. One of the tragicomic highlights of the film is their love scene in which Milda repeatedly attempts to pull down the window’s blinds.The naive girl travels to Prague based on Milda’s passing (and insincere) invitation.The story culminates with an absurd scene in a bedroom at Milda’s parents’ apartment. The father, mother and son all lay in one double bed and argue about what to do with the girl. Forman describes the scene: “It’s a tight fit. The old man wants to sleep; the son would like to get thrown out so he can join the girl on the couch, but the mother runs the show and won’t tolerate any such filthy ideas under her roof.“ This scene is one of the most sensitive and bitterest examples of Czech narrow-mindedness.
Forman puts his token emphasis on large scenes that feature mass groups of people by placing the camera in the position of a casual observer to capture a prevailing atmosphere. More than two and a half million filmgoers made “Loves of a Blonde“ the most popular film in Czechoslovakia. “Loves of a Blonde“ was also well received by foreign intellectuals. In 2010 the movie was ranked #89 in Empire magazine´s “The 100 Best Films of World Cinema.”
HorÃ, má panenko (The Firemen's Ball) (1967)
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The film “The Firemen’s Ball” follows a provincial volunteer fire department as they organise some funactivities for their ball. The ball gradually becomes more and more ridiculous; the beauty contest becomes a farce, the mothers protest about the ball committee, the fathers drink, and the daughters act embarrassed.
The ball falls into total chaos when one of the houses in the village catches fire. The drunken firemen try unsuccessfully to drive the fire engine. The people at the ball try to help the owner of the house save his belongings, and try to put out the fire with snow to no avail.
One of the women at the party asks the man whose house is on fire, “Old man, aren’t you cold?” so another person replies, “So take him closer to the flames.”
Eventually everyone returns to the dance hall, and the ball continues. However, upon their return, they discover that a large part of the raffle prize was stolen. In order to find the missing money, the committee turns the lights off so it will “magically” reappear. But, when they turn the lights back on, even more money is missing.
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The film “The Firemen’s Ball” follows a provincial volunteer fire department as they organise some funactivities for their ball. The ball gradually becomes more and more ridiculous; the beauty contest becomes a farce, the mothers protest about the ball committee, the fathers drink, and the daughters act embarrassed.
The ball falls into total chaos when one of the houses in the village catches fire. The drunken firemen try unsuccessfully to drive the fire engine. The people at the ball try to help the owner of the house save his belongings, and try to put out the fire with snow to no avail.
One of the women at the party asks the man whose house is on fire, “Old man, aren’t you cold?” so another person replies, “So take him closer to the flames.”
One of the women at the party asks the man whose house is on fire, “Old man, aren’t you cold?” so another person replies, “So take him closer to the flames.”
Eventually everyone returns to the dance hall, and the ball continues. However, upon their return, they discover that a large part of the raffle prize was stolen. In order to find the missing money, the committee turns the lights off so it will “magically” reappear. But, when they turn the lights back on, even more money is missing.
The Firemen's Ball with subtitles (Eng, Esp, Por, It, Fr)
“We cannot allow such shame. We have to somehow explain to the people. What will they say?” the firemen speculate. “When everything´s been stolen they can’t win anything,” one of them says. “But what about those who bought the tickets honestly in good faith and didn’t steal anything?” says another. “ They should have stolen something, too,” replies the first. In the end, everyone agrees that the lottery prize money has been stolen and everyone was there, so therefore everyone is a suspect. So, the end result is “Let everybody shut up”.
In this early film, Forman worked with the principles of what was called the “cruel theatre of the sixties,” which was an approach that stressed the representation of reality without artistic glamorization. Forman and his fellow screenwriters Jaroslav Papousek and Ivan Passer created a metaphor for the society of time, which was distorted by socialist morality and prioritized official pretense over human dignity and honour.
Paradoxically, this uncompromising parable irritated both the card-carrying communist and its capitalist co - producer Carlo Ponti who believed that it ridiculed common people. Despite these difficulties, the film had its world premiere in the United States and was nominated for an Oscar. “The Firemen’s Ball” functioned as Milos Forman’s ticket to American filmmaking, and thus to freedom.
“We cannot allow such shame. We have to somehow explain to the people. What will they say?” the firemen speculate. “When everything´s been stolen they can’t win anything,” one of them says. “But what about those who bought the tickets honestly in good faith and didn’t steal anything?” says another. “ They should have stolen something, too,” replies the first. In the end, everyone agrees that the lottery prize money has been stolen and everyone was there, so therefore everyone is a suspect. So, the end result is “Let everybody shut up”.
In this early film, Forman worked with the principles of what was called the “cruel theatre of the sixties,” which was an approach that stressed the representation of reality without artistic glamorization. Forman and his fellow screenwriters Jaroslav Papousek and Ivan Passer created a metaphor for the society of time, which was distorted by socialist morality and prioritized official pretense over human dignity and honour.
Paradoxically, this uncompromising parable irritated both the card-carrying communist and its capitalist co - producer Carlo Ponti who believed that it ridiculed common people. Despite these difficulties, the film had its world premiere in the United States and was nominated for an Oscar. “The Firemen’s Ball” functioned as Milos Forman’s ticket to American filmmaking, and thus to freedom.
Taking Off (1971)
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One day, fifteen-year-old Jeannie doesn’t come home. Her worried parents start calling her friends.Their neighbours rush to help them. Wives send their husbands to search the streets with Jeannie’s photo. However, the men soon give up and go to a bar.
While Jeannie’s father searches for her at a bohemian café he meets the mother of another missing girl who informs him about a support group for the parents of runaway children. This support group holds regular meetings where they try to understand their children’s interests and reasons for their behaviour.
In what has become as cult scene from the movie, a bohemian psychologist instructs the parents on how to smoke marijuana and all of the parents get stoned. That same evening Jeannie returns home; her drunk and stoned parents wake her up playing strip poker with their friends from the support group.
With this film Forman was making a comment on generational conflict of the late '60s and created a timeless, story about the helplessness of adults whose growing children have become too much to handle. These children try to leave home because they refuse to understand their parents’ conservative lifestyles that are full of daily compromises and resignation.
“Taking Off”is often viewed as a bridge between Forman’s Czech and American productions. His first American movie shares many common themes and formal techniques with his previous Czech films. The most explicit example of this is the quotations from the movie “Audition”.
The theme of generational conflict and the inability to communicate are brought into a different socio-cultural context when we compare the American parents to their Czechoslovakian counterparts. Although both situations are presented as ridiculous, the parents from the American suburbs are portrayed as lost, and the parents from a small town in socialist Czechoslovakia are portrayed as uneducated.
Forman uses his fresh look at American society to his advantage by bringing his amazement at American ordinariness. This becomes clear in his characterization of the conservative parents.
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One day, fifteen-year-old Jeannie doesn’t come home. Her worried parents start calling her friends.Their neighbours rush to help them. Wives send their husbands to search the streets with Jeannie’s photo. However, the men soon give up and go to a bar.
While Jeannie’s father searches for her at a bohemian café he meets the mother of another missing girl who informs him about a support group for the parents of runaway children. This support group holds regular meetings where they try to understand their children’s interests and reasons for their behaviour.
In what has become as cult scene from the movie, a bohemian psychologist instructs the parents on how to smoke marijuana and all of the parents get stoned. That same evening Jeannie returns home; her drunk and stoned parents wake her up playing strip poker with their friends from the support group.
With this film Forman was making a comment on generational conflict of the late '60s and created a timeless, story about the helplessness of adults whose growing children have become too much to handle. These children try to leave home because they refuse to understand their parents’ conservative lifestyles that are full of daily compromises and resignation.
“Taking Off”is often viewed as a bridge between Forman’s Czech and American productions. His first American movie shares many common themes and formal techniques with his previous Czech films. The most explicit example of this is the quotations from the movie “Audition”.
The theme of generational conflict and the inability to communicate are brought into a different socio-cultural context when we compare the American parents to their Czechoslovakian counterparts. Although both situations are presented as ridiculous, the parents from the American suburbs are portrayed as lost, and the parents from a small town in socialist Czechoslovakia are portrayed as uneducated.
Forman uses his fresh look at American society to his advantage by bringing his amazement at American ordinariness. This becomes clear in his characterization of the conservative parents.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
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Hair (1979)
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Why should a twenty-year-old boy go to the other end of the world to die? -- Especially if he hasn’t hada girl yet. All he needs to be happy is a bit of love, marijuana and a group of faithful friends who can stand up for him - or if necessary, sacrifice themselves for him.The film “Hair” tells the story of a naive boy from the American Midwest named Claude Hooper Bukowski who has been shaped by his family’s patriotism. Under the influence of a group of hippies led by the charming George Berger, Claude starts to doubt his motivation for joining the Vietnam War.
The film is based on the Broadway musical of the same name and reflects the American socio-political conflict of the decade, specifically the resistance to the Vietnam War (1964-1975). Forman used this historical background to communicate a more personal topic: the conflict between an individual and society that claims adjusting and obedience. At the same time, the movie is a satirical interpretation of a prudish American family and conservative society.
“Hair” is now considered to be a cult hippie classic, however the film was shot at the end of the 1970s, at a time when the social resonance of hippie ideals had lost its currency.Perhaps none of Forman’s films were as initially underestimated as “Hair”. Before Forman and Twyla Tharp made the film, they had had no previous experience with musicals. However, Forman and Tharp demonstrated their cultivated sense of energy and the right rhythm of musical and dance performances, and together created one of the most interesting musical movies of the time.
When “Hair” screened in Forman’s native (and those days communist) Czechoslovakia, people queued all night to get tickets. For that generation of Czechs the movie became a manifesto of longed-for freedom. However, the reason behind its popularity wasn’t a criticism of the United States, as the communist regime (mistakenly) believed.
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Why should a twenty-year-old boy go to the other end of the world to die? -- Especially if he hasn’t hada girl yet. All he needs to be happy is a bit of love, marijuana and a group of faithful friends who can stand up for him - or if necessary, sacrifice themselves for him.The film “Hair” tells the story of a naive boy from the American Midwest named Claude Hooper Bukowski who has been shaped by his family’s patriotism. Under the influence of a group of hippies led by the charming George Berger, Claude starts to doubt his motivation for joining the Vietnam War.
The film is based on the Broadway musical of the same name and reflects the American socio-political conflict of the decade, specifically the resistance to the Vietnam War (1964-1975). Forman used this historical background to communicate a more personal topic: the conflict between an individual and society that claims adjusting and obedience. At the same time, the movie is a satirical interpretation of a prudish American family and conservative society.
“Hair” is now considered to be a cult hippie classic, however the film was shot at the end of the 1970s, at a time when the social resonance of hippie ideals had lost its currency.Perhaps none of Forman’s films were as initially underestimated as “Hair”. Before Forman and Twyla Tharp made the film, they had had no previous experience with musicals. However, Forman and Tharp demonstrated their cultivated sense of energy and the right rhythm of musical and dance performances, and together created one of the most interesting musical movies of the time.
When “Hair” screened in Forman’s native (and those days communist) Czechoslovakia, people queued all night to get tickets. For that generation of Czechs the movie became a manifesto of longed-for freedom. However, the reason behind its popularity wasn’t a criticism of the United States, as the communist regime (mistakenly) believed.
Amadeus (1984)
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“Forgive me Mozart, I killed you,” an old and terminally ill man whispers in the middle of the night. It is1823, and the former composer at the Viennese court Antonio Salieri remembers his more talented rival, whose life was shortened by Salieri’s intrigues.When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart showed up in Vienna in 1871, he was preceded by the story of a wonder boy. Forman introduces Mozart as a childish and arrogant young man of exceptional musical talent who dies in poverty and contempt only ten years later. With the same speed that he gains his fame and composes music without a simple correction of notes, he provokes scandals and causes nuisance. Wherever he goes he makes enemies, and then giggles at it all.
“I am only a vulgar man but I assure you, your Majesty, my music is not,” Mozart tells the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. “Why does God only speak through Mozart’s music and not mine? Where is justice in the world?” asks Salieri, a man who sacrificed everything for music and to the service of a court bandmaster, haunted by remorse at the end of his life.
Ultimately, Salieri feels that he is a martyr of God’s plot. Although Salieri served God devotedly, he remained just an ordinary musician--the divine inspiration spoke not through his but through his rival’s work. Salieri is full of both admiration and hatred for Mozart: but whereas Mozart’s music was to survive through the ages, Salieri’s music fell largely into oblivion.Milos Forman’s ‘Amadeus’: A Stylish Cinematic Homage The Musical Prodigy Deserved >>>
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“Forgive me Mozart, I killed you,” an old and terminally ill man whispers in the middle of the night. It is1823, and the former composer at the Viennese court Antonio Salieri remembers his more talented rival, whose life was shortened by Salieri’s intrigues.When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart showed up in Vienna in 1871, he was preceded by the story of a wonder boy. Forman introduces Mozart as a childish and arrogant young man of exceptional musical talent who dies in poverty and contempt only ten years later. With the same speed that he gains his fame and composes music without a simple correction of notes, he provokes scandals and causes nuisance. Wherever he goes he makes enemies, and then giggles at it all.
“I am only a vulgar man but I assure you, your Majesty, my music is not,” Mozart tells the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. “Why does God only speak through Mozart’s music and not mine? Where is justice in the world?” asks Salieri, a man who sacrificed everything for music and to the service of a court bandmaster, haunted by remorse at the end of his life.
Ultimately, Salieri feels that he is a martyr of God’s plot. Although Salieri served God devotedly, he remained just an ordinary musician--the divine inspiration spoke not through his but through his rival’s work. Salieri is full of both admiration and hatred for Mozart: but whereas Mozart’s music was to survive through the ages, Salieri’s music fell largely into oblivion.
Milos Forman’s ‘Amadeus’: A Stylish Cinematic Homage The Musical Prodigy Deserved >>>
The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
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“The only offence I committed was my bad taste,” Larry Flynt states in his defense to the Unites StatesSupreme Court libel suit against the Reverend Jerry Falwell. Throughout the film, Milos Forman characterizes Larry as a vulgar prankster from Kentucky who made a fortune off the back of naked women and sex, and also as a stubborn man fighting against a puritanical society who is unable to forgive the hypocrisy of the whole nation.
The film depicts Flynt’s life story, and the personal tragedies that influenced him. Flynt survived an assassination attempt that left him paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair bound. His wife Althea died from a drug overdose and AIDS. As a result, Flynt was left alone with his depression and personal demons.
The film oscillates between two classical American film genres: biography and court drama. For Milos Forman, the pivitol scene of the film is when the Supreme Court decides whether freedom of speech includes the freedom to show a woman’s naked butt or sexual intercourse in a Santa Claus costume. The movie poses the question: “You don’t have to agree with him, but would you resign to the unlimited freedom of speech?”
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“The only offence I committed was my bad taste,” Larry Flynt states in his defense to the Unites StatesSupreme Court libel suit against the Reverend Jerry Falwell. Throughout the film, Milos Forman characterizes Larry as a vulgar prankster from Kentucky who made a fortune off the back of naked women and sex, and also as a stubborn man fighting against a puritanical society who is unable to forgive the hypocrisy of the whole nation.
The film depicts Flynt’s life story, and the personal tragedies that influenced him. Flynt survived an assassination attempt that left him paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair bound. His wife Althea died from a drug overdose and AIDS. As a result, Flynt was left alone with his depression and personal demons.
The film oscillates between two classical American film genres: biography and court drama. For Milos Forman, the pivitol scene of the film is when the Supreme Court decides whether freedom of speech includes the freedom to show a woman’s naked butt or sexual intercourse in a Santa Claus costume. The movie poses the question: “You don’t have to agree with him, but would you resign to the unlimited freedom of speech?”
Man on the Moon(1999)
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You could never be sure what Kaufmann truly meant, and what was just one of his eccentric jokes.When Kaufman quit his popular role as the foreign mechanic Latko in “Taxi”,he explained, “I want to create just my own things.” Throughout the film, we watch as Kaufman creates his “own” world out of mystifications and hackneyed jokes not only on the stage, but also in his real life.
Kaufman not only loses his audience, he also loses close friends and his girlfriend. During his downward spiral, Kaufman sings children’s songs to audiences looking for coarse jokes. At a college campus show he reads “The Great Gatsby”. He invites his talent agent to a nightclub to watch a performance by a rude, loud-mouthed lounge singer named Tony Clifton who is revealed to be his alter- ego.
Kaufman would fake his own death or to set the theatre on fire just to make an audience laugh. Right when we think we “get” how his mind works, he baffles us with another shocking stunt or mystification. When Kaufman becomes ill, he goes to the Philippines seeking a miracle cure, but when he finds it he recognizes that he once pulled a similar scam (as performance art). With this knowledge Kaufman loses his last chance to be cured; he however accepts that for once the joke is on him.
This innovative biography follows Kaufman’s career from its very beginnings; from the nightclubs to the memorable success of his own show at Carnegie Hall. Despite the obscure and politically incorrect nature of his performance art, we watch Kaufman become a star right in front of our eyes. Milos Forman’s film is a tribute to Kaufman’s humour; it makes you laugh but at the same time gives you the creeps.
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You could never be sure what Kaufmann truly meant, and what was just one of his eccentric jokes.When Kaufman quit his popular role as the foreign mechanic Latko in “Taxi”,he explained, “I want to create just my own things.” Throughout the film, we watch as Kaufman creates his “own” world out of mystifications and hackneyed jokes not only on the stage, but also in his real life.
Kaufman not only loses his audience, he also loses close friends and his girlfriend. During his downward spiral, Kaufman sings children’s songs to audiences looking for coarse jokes. At a college campus show he reads “The Great Gatsby”. He invites his talent agent to a nightclub to watch a performance by a rude, loud-mouthed lounge singer named Tony Clifton who is revealed to be his alter- ego.
Kaufman would fake his own death or to set the theatre on fire just to make an audience laugh. Right when we think we “get” how his mind works, he baffles us with another shocking stunt or mystification. When Kaufman becomes ill, he goes to the Philippines seeking a miracle cure, but when he finds it he recognizes that he once pulled a similar scam (as performance art). With this knowledge Kaufman loses his last chance to be cured; he however accepts that for once the joke is on him.
This innovative biography follows Kaufman’s career from its very beginnings; from the nightclubs to the memorable success of his own show at Carnegie Hall. Despite the obscure and politically incorrect nature of his performance art, we watch Kaufman become a star right in front of our eyes. Milos Forman’s film is a tribute to Kaufman’s humour; it makes you laugh but at the same time gives you the creeps.
Milos Forman: 1932-2018 >>>
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