Five bright lights of the Czech New Wave helm segments derived from short stories by literary giant Bohumil Hrabal. Menzel—Hrabal’s collaborator on Oscar winner Closely Watched Trains and other works—directs, adapts, and appears in Mr. Baltazar’s Death, set at a communal bike rally; Chytilová’s At the World Cafeteria depicts a wedding reception in a diner thwarted by the authorities, and in Romance, Jires (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders) observes shy Ivan Vyskocil gravitating to gypsy Dana Valtová.

In Czech with English subtitles

Print courtesy of the Czech Film Institute