Taking Off to the Other Side of Atlantic: The American Debut of Miloš Forman

Marek Hendrykowski

Abstract

Marek Hendrykowski carries out a reassessment of Taking Off (1971) by Milos Forman, and argues that the film belongs among the top films of American cinematography of the 1960s and 1970s. According to the author the film situates itself in a circle of unjustly underrated phenomena of the history of American cinema. The box office failure of the Taking Off meant that for years the film was set as an example of alleged mismatch of prominent European filmmaker and the New World – America and Hollywood. Hendrykowski notes that from today’s perspective Forman’s work is astounding in terms of workshop and the director’s insistence at transferring his creative character from Czechoslovakia and Europe to America. He also points out to the importance of cognitive irony present throughout Taking Off, which is characteristic to Forman and other members of the Czech school of film. The author concludes: by “Taking Off” Forman initiated a new direction in research, which was to become a new signpost and aim for many other filmmakers on the other side of the ocean. It is not a question of similarities, references or stylistic borrowings, but an original model of feature film and the image of reality contained within.