Iluminace 2003, 15(3):55-70

Silence, Gestures, Metaphors and Stories

Peter Michalovič, Vlastimil Zuska

The authors examine the early work of Juraj Jakubisko and try to find the germs of his creative methods as they manifested themselves in his later works. Jakubisko's silent film work recapitulates the world history of cinema by revealing the essence of some of its historical phases (silent film, surrealism, etc.). In particular, he uses the play with the audience's expectations and intersections - of the visual and verbal planes. In Jakubisko's EVERY DAY HAS A NAME, he analyses the role of rhythm and the formation of the complex image, which is most significant in this work, especially in relation to metaphors over verbal and visual layers of meaning. Jakubisko's SILENCE is examined as a kind of reflection on the temporality of human existence and lived time, as well as a strategy of escape from the time of being to death, and a specific work with the relationship between past and present is noted, again on verbal and pictorial levels. Jakubisko's specific use of description and diegesis, his treatment of narrative and cinematic time and the simultaneously represented living time is the main theme of the analysis of WAITING FOR GODOT. The authors summarize that Jakubisko tried out an important part of the whole spectrum of the film's expressive means in his early works in order to use them in his subsequent large-scale films and smaller operas.

Keywords: Slovak director and screenwriter based in the Czech Republic, Juraj Jakubisko, film production

Published: September 1, 2003  Show citation