It’s Gonna Get Worse

Black and white, 35 mm
Czech Republic, 2007, 84 min
Section: Czech Films 2006-2007

Synopsis

North Bohemia, mid-1980s. Olin is 21 years old and he’s just been let out of the asylum. He feels at home in grimy smoky pubs and, like his long-haired friends, he dreams of a world where no-one orders them about or stops them doing what they want to do. He sees sitting around with no work or hope, yet in the reliable company of drugs and alcohol, as legitimate opposition to the totalitarian regime. One day, however, Olin and his friends realise that dreaming isn’t enough: they decide to emigrate… Ten years after the comedy Wonderful Years That Sucked (1997) Petr Nikolaev returns to the era of President Husák and presents it in quite a different way: with hard-hitting images, in black-and-white and using “natural” amateurs or little known actors. The film also features episodic appearances from the underground figures of the day (Vratislav Brabenec, Pavel Zajíček) and the unique sound of the band DG 307. Inspiration for the film, which was screened in the International Forum of Young Cinema at this year’s Berlin IFF, came from the underground bestseller of the same name by Jan Pelc.

About the director

Petr Nikolaev (b. 1957, Prague) studied documentary film at Prague’s FAMU (1978–84). He was already acquiring a name for himself with his student films Fit for Service (1979) and Praga caput regni (1980). After graduating he worked in France where he made several educational films and the short La surface (1990). He returned to his native country in 1992 and five years later debuted with his adaptation of Michal Viewegh’s novel Wonderful Years That Sucked (1997). His highly regarded romantic drama from the 1950s A Little Piece of Heaven (2005) is also set in the Communist era. He also made video clips for the band Stromboli (1988), the documentary The Royal Way (1992) from the TV series OKO, an episode from the collection of film stories Moon Valley (1994), the TV doc. The Prague Five (1995), the TV films Wolves in Town (2001) and Black Miss Miss Black (2002), three episodes from the series Eden (2006–07) and part of the series Why Shouldn’t We Drown? (2007).