(Written and directed by Vojtēch Jesny; starring Radoslav Brzohaty, Vera Galatíková, Vlastimil Brodsky, Vladimír Menšik, Waldemar Matuška, and Drahomíra Hofmanová. Released 1968; watched 2023w10 via Criterion Channel)

The first of my Tycherion-chosen Criterion watches and a winner: deeply moving, often hallucinatory (the animal carnival among them) vignettes spanning+/-15 years in one Czech village as it and the wonderful characters inside it transform and reveal their true natures from post-WWII elation to the ruin of Communist dictatorship, a case study in the raw power of using deeply drawn humans occupying few locations and multiple eras. While Jesny's film may be my first exposure to the Czech New Wave, it most certainly won't be my last. Still processing it – and will be for awhile.