Smoke

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1990

Production year

1990

Premiere

1 February 1991

Runtime

90 min

Director

Tomáš Vorel

Genre

satire

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Kouř

Czech title

Kouř

English title

Smoke

Working title

Ing. 89 / Kuřáci

Summary

Tomáš Vorel’s Kouř (Smoke) enjoys a special position among the pictures produced by the generation of filmmakers that emerged at the turn of the 1990s. The comedy, subtitled “A musical of the totalitarian age”, has cult status with both contemporaries of its then 33-year-old non-conformist creator and viewers who were just coming of age in 1990. Vorel based Smoke on his legendary short film Ing. (1985), though only the basic plot remains in the feature version. The protagonist of the narrative is idealistic young engineer Miroslav Čáp (Jan Slovák), who starts his first job determined to fulfil his duties to the best of his abilities. However, his new colleagues don’t take their work at all seriously. Instead denunciations, favouritism, scheming, fraud, alcoholism and promiscuity are rampant. Miroslav refuses to play the game and unwittingly sparks an uprising against the incompetent management. However, both the character and makers of the film are sceptical of “revolutionary changes” for the good... Lumír Tuček of the Onwards Recital Group, which appeared in his 1988 portmanteau film Pražská 5 (Prague Five), worked with Vorel on the screenplay of this sarcastic comedy inspired by omnipresent totalitarian “smoke”. While the presentation of five Prague theatre companies in the former picture functioned as five solo projects tied together by Vorel’s direction, Smoke delivers a compact story infused with the playfully ironic perspective characteristic of Sklep, the theatre group of which the director was a member. Nevertheless, actors and other artists from other members of the Prague five – the Mimóza Mime Group, Onwards Recital Group and the Křeč ballet troupe – also left a harmonious mark on the project. In addition the cast includes the likes of Jaroslav Dušek, an actor and director from the Vizita theatre. Cinematographer Martin Duba contributed to the radical visual form of Smoke, while the songs of Michal Vích, with lyrics by Tuček, are an integral part of the picture.

Synopsis

A lanky young man with a cigarette is walking around the ironworks. It is gloomy; in the air is the acrid smell of smoke. Miroslav Čáp, the engineer, starts his first job. He is welcomed by the jovial engineer, Glosner who, in vain, tries to learn if he is a relative of Mr. Čáp from the ministry. Mirek is walked around the building by the head of the development department, Karel míd, a jovial gypper. Everything is grubby, even the room at the boarding house where Mirek gets accommodation. While looking for cheap cigarettes, Mirek meets Helenka, a loose and warm hearted shop assistant in the canteen and the bearded beer-drinker, Béďa, from the archives department. Mirek gets drunk with him and his friends and in the morning he sleeps over. It does not matter he comes late, anyway no one is working. At the meeting, a bloated director with a heavy Russian accent is solving the problem with air pollution. Helenka brings cheap cigarettes to Mirek, even to his room. Glosner assigns the new employee a preparation of the project for air de-sulphurization. Helenka invites Mirek to an aerobic class, but she does not practise, as she is ashamed. Later they get drunk with vodka and both fall asleep in his bed. The old maid constructor, Běhalová, tells Mirek that this project had been worked out already years ago by the engineer, Kříek. After míd turned him in, Kříek went to prison and in the end he ended up in the boiler-room. Mirek goes to the archives to find his project. He meets an attractive girl called Kitten; she invites him to a discoth?que. The local star, the coordinator of cultural activities and DJ, Arnotek, drags Mirek to the Socialist Youth Union club. But Kitten is dancing only with Arnotek. Mirek finds out thar Kříek's project was ingenious and that he cannot think of anything better. míd brings an invitation for the non-officially obligatory celebration of Women's day. The aerobic teacher, míd, welcomes Helenka, who overcame her shyness and does the exercises. In a wine bar Mirek sits down next to Kitten and some man, who quickly leaves. It is Kitten's father, the engineer Kříek. míd catches Běhalová filling in work reports for her colleagues and he cruelly beats her up. Arnotek is filming a video clip for the Women's day celebration. Kříek tries to persuade his daughter to leave for her mother, who is living abroad in emigration. The girl refuses, she wants to stay and take care of her father. In the gym, míd glimpses a half-naked Helenka and he pounces on her. The Secret Police have a "friendly talk" with Mirek and they beat him up. Běhalová forces Kříek to apply with his project again, but he is sceptical. At the Women's day celebration, a clip called The River of Life is screened and there are shots of fat gymnasts. Then there is a performance by children, with the People's Militia, commanded by míd. In the air full of smoke, the director collapses and after an asthma attack, he dies on the stairs. At the mourning meeting, míd makes fun of Mirek. He votes that the project is bad. Běhalová runs to the boiler-room for Kříek and persuades him to step in. On the way, other employees join them. Mirek attacks míd, who is protected by the militia. But the will of the people is strong, the functionaries resign and Kříek stays to hear ovations. Mirek sits with bound hands, next to míd's dead body and he lights a cigarette.

Note

Eva Holubová acted in this film under the pseudonym Eva Paloma Váňová.

Film online

Photos

členka pěveckého sboru

Jakub Černý

člen pěveckého sboru

Nikola Mohorita

člen pěveckého sboru

Crew and creators

Director

Tomáš Vorel

Second Unit Director

Vladimír Michálek, Eva Kadaňková

Assistant Director

Roman Fara

Set Designer

Karel Vaňásek (vedoucí výpravy), Jindřich Rada (rekvizitář), Milan Bábik (rekvizitář), Miroslav Buberle (rekvizitář)

Costume Designer

Simona Rybáková

Costumes

Iveta Trmalová (vedoucí kostymérka), Dagmar Pospíšilová, Pavla Hodačová

Make-Up Artist

Jana Dolejší, Jaroslav Šámal, Ivana Kostková

Film Editor

Jiří Brožek

Assistant Film Editor

Eva Horázná

Sound Designer

Tomáš Janeček, Jiří Moudrý, Jiří Kříž

Assistant Sound Designer

Tomáš Červenka

Special Effects

Miroslav Šnábl, Pavel Kryml

Special Effects

Martin Kulhánek (pyrotechnik)

Titles Designed by

Aleš Najbrt

Production Manager

Jaroslav Bouček

Unit Production Manager

Václav Marhoul, Michal Přikryl, Jitka Hoferková

Unit Production Manager

Ondřej Nerud, Emil Sirotek ml., František Novotný, Eva Dymáková (pokladní)

Background Painter

Jaromír Franta, Pavel Dvořáček

Consultant

Jaroslav Tomsa, Josef Ouřada, Ing. Jiří Vojník

Cooperation

Eva Blažková (klapka), Jiří Novák (vrchní osvětlovač), Slavomír Knapp (fotograf), František Stupka (odborná spolupráce), Jiří Kuba (odborná spolupráce), Jiří Kraus (odborná spolupráce), Milan Zaváhal (odborná spolupráce), Richard Pešán (odborná spolupráce), Vladimír Čermák (odborná spolupráce), Jan Sabad (odborná spolupráce), Pavel Petra (odborná spolupráce), Josef Staněk (odborná spolupráce), Rudolf Bareš (odborná spolupráce)

Music

Music Composed by

Michal Vích

Music Performed by

Michal Vích /klavír, syntezátor, řechtačka, píšťalka/, Lubomír Horňák /kytara a okapová roura/, Jaroslav Kořán /bicí, plechovky a okapová roura/, Petr Pavlík /basa/, Petr Venkrbec /altsaxofon/, Jiří Isan Novotný /tenorsaxofon/, Roman Kubát /trubka/, Martin Staněk /tuba/, Josef Kocůrek /flétna/, Richard Dvořák /klavír a syntezátor/, František Havlíček /tenorsaxofon/, Petr Drešer /akordeon/, Marie Purgerová /violoncello/, Václav Kalhaus /pozoun/, Vlastimil Vorel /samplery/

Music Supervisor

Juraj Ďurovič, Jiří Zobač

Choreographer

Michal Caban, Lada Odstrčilová (asistentka), Jana Krňanská (asistentka)

Songs

Divnej jsem a sám

Song Composer Michal Vích
Writer of Lyrics Lumír Tuček
Singer Jiří Burdasbor

Hele, kotě, vo co ti de

Song Composer Michal Vích
Writer of Lyrics Lumír Tuček
Singer Lucie ZedníčkováJan Slovák

Jedu dál

Song Composer Michal Vích
Writer of Lyrics Lumír Tuček
Singer Šimon Caban [dab]Martin Zbrožeksbor

Chodím s tváří bílou

Song Composer Michal Vích
Writer of Lyrics Lumír Tuček
Singer Eva Holubová

Kdyby něco, bereme kramle

Song Composer Michal Vích
Writer of Lyrics Lumír Tuček
Singer Lucie ZedníčkováJiří BurdaJan Slovák

Production info

Original Title

Kouř

Czech Title

Kouř

English Title

Smoke

Working Title

Ing. 89 / Kuřáci

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

satire

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1990

Production Year

1990

Premiere

premiere 1 February 1991 /unsuitable for youths/ (kino 64 U Hradeb, Praha)
renewed premiere 9 January 1997 /suitable for all ages/ (kino Illusion, Praha)
renewed premiere 9 July 2020 /suitable for all ages without limit/

Distribution slogan

Czech film. A musical set in the totalitarian era. (1991) / A musical set in the totalitarian era. (1997) / A musical set in the totalitarian era. (2020)

Production

Filmové studio Barrandov

Copyright Holders

Státní fond kinematografie

Laboratories

Filmové laboratoře Barrandov

Distribution

Lucernafilm (původní 1991), Bontonfilm (obnovená 1997), Národní filmový archiv (obnovená 2020)

Creative Group

1. tvůrčí skupina, Jiří Blažek (vedoucí 1. tvůrčí skupiny), Jiří Ulrich ml. (vedoucí produkce 1. tvůrčí skupiny)

Sales

Národní filmový archiv, Obchodní oddělení

Vítěz

Production year

Premiere

Runtime

Director

Category

Genre

Typology

Original title

Czech title

English title

Working title

Summary

Synopsis

Note

Film online

Photos

Cast

Ladislav Myslivec

Alena Tesařová

Zdeněk Běhal

Miloš Šustr

Božena Störová

Pavel Mastný

Olga Jargusová

Alena Krpatová

Hana Drobilová

Michal Bartůšek

Milan Kruml

Ladislav Bašta

Marie Milerová

Petr Vašíček

Karel Kulhánek ml.

Robert Volf

Jiří Kratochvíl

Jaroslav Brůha

Jiří Vorel

Blažena Linková

Karel Pecián

Štěpán Banko

Marie Tučková

Stanislava Kratinová

Anna Dražanová

Martina Schmidtová

Martina Křenková

Lada Odstrčilová

Lída Marková

Emma Letovová

Marie Ledvinková

Ivo Kačaba

Radan Wágner

Kryštof Trubáček

Roman Ťalský

Zdeněk Žampa

Jaroslav Ešpandr

Pavel Auerbach

Jarmila Zámyslická

Eva Kutinová

Štefan Nikola

Petr Zadražil

Leopold Šrubař

Ladislav Ondruška

Ladislav Vondruška

Alois Zkoupil

Antonín Staněk

Miroslav Štěpán

Ivo Bojanovský

Milan Pražák

Kristýna Černá

Kateřina Mohoritová

Mariana Koláčková

Jakub Černý

Nikola Mohorita

Crew and creators

Director

Second Unit Director

Assistant Director

Continuity