Purely Joyful Movie!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Its not at all a good film.They say its a film with black comedy ,but the problem is it couldn't make a laughter in me.From the starting it made me sleep.The only attraction is the chill that it makes.Also the movement of camera is a distraction for the viewers.The actors have done their part nicely.The script ,in my view is missing something.

The 1960s were an interesting time for Czechoslovakian cinema. It seems that they were making some amazing films about WWII and the Nazi era. I think the best of these was "The Shop on Main Street" but "Closely Watched Trains" was also an intriguing film. As for "The Cremator", it, too, is very good--but it's one you might have to force yourself to stick with, as the film, stylistically, is hard to love. But you need to stick with it--it's worth your time.The first thing I noticed about this movie was its deliberately 'artsy' style. Too many oddly framed closeups and an insistence on a roving camera made me initially hate the film. However, over time it began to grow on me. "The Cremator" is the story of Kopfrkingl---a really weird guy who loves his job of running the crematorium just before Czechoslovakia was absorbed by the Nazis in 1938. He is very philosophical and really loves the Tibetan "Book of the Dead". As a result, he believes his job is freeing souls from suffering so that they can be reincarnated to a better life. He also slowly comes to embrace the upcoming Nazi regime--a problem since his wife is half-Jewish. This problem their children slowly come to haunt this loving family man.What I liked was not only the weird places the plot goes and how Kopfrkingl solves his problem with Nazis, but the creepy way he's portrayed. I loved his use of the comb throughout the film--you just have to see it to know what I mean. It is truly an unusual and inventive plot. Strikes against it are the camera-work as well as the clothing and fashions. Yes, once again the history teacher within me rears its ugly head, but the folks in the film did NOT look like they were from 1938 but the 1960s. Their hair and clothes were all wrong--odd details to have missed and probably something that won't bother the less detail-obsessed out there. Still, overall it's very worth seeing--just force yourself to stick with this one despite its rather flat beginning.

How to marry a brilliant gothic expressionistic style with repulsive subject matter? While I am pleased to have had the opportunity of seeing this film which is firmly in the great Czech fantastic/grotesque tradition my enjoyment of the visuals was ultimately marred by the storyline which only an anti-semite could love. I felt I needed a long soak in a hot bath afterwards.

This film of Juraj Herj, like Morgiana, has a decidedly gothic feel. Karl Kopfrkingl, the owner of a modern crematorium gets creepier by the minute. At the beginning of the film at a family outing we see a snow leopard, peacock, tiger, snake, and a lion - Karl makes a comment that "cages are for mute persons." Later at a fair everyone else seems to be having a wonderful time; Karl looks quite glum. But when they enter a "chamber of horrors" exhibit, he's quite happy and intrigued while everyone else is shocked (it reminds me of one of Charles Addams' cartoons with everyone in a movie theatre crying, except for one man who seems positively overjoyed by the cinema situation).In a sense, Karl lives for dying - or at least lives to compassionately cremate as many people as he can, releasing and purifying their souls for another life. He seems to have a bit of an obsession with Tibetan Buddhism, carrying with him a tome on the Dalia Lama's palace and Buddhist customs.It doesn't take much flattery and cajoling by Nazi sympathizers to put Karl totally over the edge of sanity . . .Quite an incredible film, with good use of wide-angle lenses and closeups to indicate Karl's increasing derangement.