Helluva Good Luck 2

Colour, 35mm
Czech Republic, 2001, 101 min
Section: Czech Films

Synopsis

Markýtka and Honza are a loving and beloved royal couple. The sly Princess Eufrozína enchants Lucipher with her charms and she and her father escape from hell with the help of the seven-leagues boots. They plan on joining forces once again with King Brambas in order to deprive Honza of his throne. Evil sister Dora takes advantage of Honza’s absence (he’s out battling the enemy) to bustle in on the castle where she nearly kills Markýtka and her new-born son; she would like to have Honza all to herself. This time round, in addition to Kujbaba, Hnipírek, Valihrach, the fairy godmothers and a couple of devils, the loving pair are supported by Lucipher, a three-headed dragon and several other figures. We are also treated to new fairy-tale attractions such as a golden fish who grants three wishes, porridge from a magic pot and an elixir of forgetfulness. As in every fairy tale, evil is punished in the end and Eufrozína, her royal father, Brambas and Dora find themselves back in hell, jammed into the same cauldron.

About the director

Zdeněk Troška (b. 1953, Strakonice) graduated from the Lycée Camot in Dijon and then in film and television direction from Prague’s Film Academy (FAMU) in 1978. He made his film debut with The Young Mailman from the triptych How a Man Gives Birth (1979), though his first independent feature was the children’s comedy A Shoe Named Melichar (1983). He achieved commercial success with a trilogy of village comedies: Sun, Hay and Strawberries (1983), Sun, Hay and a Slap in the Face (1988) and Sun, Hay and Erotica (1991). He gained his greatest success, however, with fairy tales: Princess Claire and the Flying Cobbler (1987), The Princess from the Mill 1 and 2 (1994, 2000) and Helluva Good Luck 1 and 2 (1999, 2001). His films have received many international awards and have been sold to more than thirty countries.