VeteranLight
I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
Glucedee
It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
Haven Kaycee
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
morrison-dylan-fan
Talking to a DVD seller I found out that he had recently tracked down a Comic-Book-style Czech movie.Being interested to see a Comic- Book film from a rather unexpected place,I decided it was time to discover who would try to kill Jessie.The plot:Hired to delete "undesirable" elements from peoples dreams,scientist Doc. Ruzenka Beránková invents a device and a formula which allows her to view dreams and alter them.As his wife tests the device, Doc. Jindrich Beránek reads a Jessie Comic-Book that one of his students has left laying round.Taking a hands on approach to the machine, Ruzenka decides to secretly hook Jindrich to the machine during his sleep,and is horrified to find Jindrich dreaming of Jessie.Unknown to Ruzenka,her device contains a fault which brings peoples dreams to life.View on the film:Whilst the decision to shoot in b & w does drain the paternal juicy pulp colours away,co-writer/(along with Milos Macourek) director Václav Vorlícek still draws an extravagantly zany piece of Sci-Fi Comic- Book pop-art.Filling the screen with speech bubbles, Vorlícek & cinematographer Jan Nemecek display a sharp sense of style as quirky sound effects,and off-centre superhero appearances (including Superman!) give the title a delightfully playful mood. Painting the Comic-Book panels on the screen, Vorlícek pushes the 4th wall down with a mischievous atmosphere which fires sped-up film speeds and pop-out special effects into the latest issue.Largely keeping away from being overly serious,the screenplay by Vorlícek and Macourek does spin a sharp satirical sidebar over how the attempted suppression of peoples thoughts can lead to them being unleashed in unexpected directions.Lapping up the spirit of 50's Sci-Fi,the writers wonderfully mix B-Movie,white coat wearing scientists with vivid Comic-Book 60's cool,as Ruzenka desperately tries to get Jindrich's creations off her page. Pushing him out of his comfort zone, Jirí Sovák gives a terrific performance as Doc. Jindrich Beránek,thanks to Sovák striking Jindrich with a delightfully nervous reaction over seeing his dreams come to life.Wrapped in a head- turning dress,the cute Olga Schoberová gives an excellent performance as Jessie.Given a minimal amount of dialogue, Schoberová superbly uses her expressive face to reveal Jessie's happiness round Ruzenka,and her annoyance around the scientist,as Jindrich discovers who wants to kill Jessie.
k_t_t2001
In 1960's America, millions tuned in to the 'BIFF!' 'BAM!' 'POW!' action of the Batman television series. But this 'pop art' phenomenon was not limited to the North American shores. A continent away, another comic book hero, or in this case heroine, was quite literally springing to life in the Czech film 'Who Wants to Kill Jessie?'.'Who Wants to Kill Jessie?' is a nonsensical film, which begins with a fantastical premise and then madly and unapologetically dashes from one ridiculous situation to another. Which, in the case of a film of this type, is not necessarily a bad thing.Dana Medrická as Dr. Rose Beránková is the catalyst for all events in the film. Dr. Beránková has just invented a serum that allows dreams to be altered so that undesirable elements can be removed. The effectiveness of this invention can be tested via a dream scanner which allows observers to monitor a person's drams on a TV screen. This remarkable device is seemingly so commonplace that the good doctor keeps one next to her own bed.The trouble begins when the jealous Rose catches her husband, Henry (Jirí Sovák) dreaming about the gorgeous blonde comic book heroine, Jessie, though in fact he is dreaming about her anti-gravity gloves, and decides to eliminate her dream girl rival by injecting Henry with the new serum.The next morning however, Rose discovers that subjects removed from dreams, rather simply disappearing, are brought into the real world, and now not only Jessie (the beautiful Olga Schoberová) but her two adversaries, an evil cowboy and a villainous superman, have come to life. Jessie quickly escapes her two foes and begins to track Henry to the University where he is lecturing, pursued by the destructive superman and cowboy, who are in turn being pursued by the police.When the police finally catch up with the dream trio, Henry is arrested as well. Rose is perfectly willing to let her husband take the blame for the whole mess, testifying at his trial that if he had dreamed about his wife instead of Jessie, none of this would have happened. In the end, while Rose plots a way to dispose of the dream characters, it is up to an imprisoned Henry to save the day, by actually creating the anti-gravity gloves from the comic book.Interestingly, the film's two comic book villains are not really very evil. They are greedy and destructive, but not cruel or vicious. While the Cowboy is constantly threatening people with his six shooter, he never actually shoots anyone. No one is hurt and no one is killed. Likely this is because these manifestations are not the villains from the Jessie comic, but Henry's interpretation of them from his dreams. Since Henry's dreams are not violent, neither are the realized dream villains. In the same way, while the comic book Jessie has never heard of Henry, the dream Jessie is attracted to him and so the manifested Jessie professes her love for him – which does nothing to improve Henry's standing with Rose.The closest thing to a true villain the film has is Rose. It is her petty jealously that leads her to first create the problem, then allow her befuddled husband to be jailed for it, and finally to attempt, futilely, to destroy the dream people in quite horrible and savage ways. The viciousness of Rose's actions is muted only by the film's consistently light tone, and the fact that her attempts are completely ineffectual against the seemingly indestructible manifestations.Undoubtedly the most remarkable thing about this film is that it exists at all. While comic book style films were all the rage in Italy, France and America, in the 1960's Czechoslovakia was still an Iron Curtain country, albeit one experiencing a period of cultural freedom. A film as utterly and delightfully frivolous as 'Who Wants to Kill Jessie?' is as a bold departure from the popular stereotype of the bleak, somber, pathos drenched film of the Soviet Bloc era as one could imagine. This is a film that has no political agenda, aside from a very few light jabs at rigid bureaucracy, tosses away logic and simply delights in being silly.Long a difficult film to see, usually available for viewing only at film festivals, 'Who Wants to Kill Jessie?' has at last been released on DVD in a very nice 2.35:1 widescreen edition by Centrum Video in Europe, complete with English subtitles. The bonus features, including an interview with writer/director Václav Vorlícek, are unfortunately in Czech only with no English subtitling.
ofumalow
One of the first "pop" 60s movies to appropriate comic-strip imagery (including dialogue balloons), "Who Killed Jessie?"--a ruse, since nobody kills her--is a buoyant, sometimes bawdy exercise in fantasy farce. Two dully married, middle-aged scientists create havoc when her experimental device releases figures from his dreams into the real world. Thus a musclebound superman, bodacious damsel-in-distress and laconic cowboy are suddenly running around Prague, wreaking havoc with their indestructible nature and archetypical fantasy behaviors. It's a hilarious novelty-a sci-fi screwball comedy.
Joe Stemme
Part of a Czech film festival travelling around North America in 2003, WHO KILLED JESSI? (on screen title - WHO WANTS TO KILL JESSI?) is a charming SF Fantasy that is too little seen. Seek it out if you can. Certainly, some of the "Eastern Bloc" humor of the piece is both dated and obscure for Western audiences, but this isn't the kind of turgid Pro-Communist tract that scare away many. No, JESSI was part of the brief Czech artistic freedom era that produced Milos Forman among others. All that stated, JESSI stands as one of the most successful fusions of Comic Books and Cinema ever. Similar in some ways to THE PROJECTIONIST, JESSI is about a man's comic book dreams becoming a reality thru a serum invented by his wife. The heroine of the comic, JESSI, fleshed out (literally!) by the gorgeous Olga Schoberová (her looks alone should end all the jokes about babushkas named Olga!), is chased by two...uh...Terminators. The Terminators are comic book stereotypes - a "Superman" and a Cowboy. Before Jane Fonda/BARBARELLA, Lynda Carter/WONDER WOMAN or the TV & Film trios of CHARLIE'S ANGELS - there was JESSI! Jessi looks great, wears the sexiest of clothes, eludes her would-be captors, and sports a super-strength pair of Gloves! Much charm and genuine wit develop as the trio of comic book characters invade the "real world" - complete with Comic Book Dialogue Balloons instead of actual speech! To give away too many particulars might spoil the fun of this brief 80 minute fantasy. There are the requisite mildly anti-government jibes (in particular, a police guard who doggedly guards his post - a sewer opening!), some disarmingly simple Special Effects and every Comic Book geek's fantasy ending. A discovery waiting to happen!
