major players in the Czechoslovak New Wave, Pearls of the Deep is a wild 
anthology film containing five stories by Bohumil Hrabal from the same number of directors. You could almost watch this today as a calling card for each of the filmmakers, who would go on to varying degrees of acclaim with other projects. All alumni from the Czech national film school, FAMU, the directors each have their own take on the author's material -- and it's clear from the first segment, "Mr. Baltazar's Death" by Jiří Menzel (who made Closely Watched Trains the same year), that this won't be your usual movie omnibus. Shot loosely during a real, sprawling motorcycle race, it follows several attendees including a middle-aged couple and a father-in-law who all have their own (sometimes really grim) reasons for being there.
One of the movement's few female filmmakers, Vera Chytilová, gets her turn with "The Restaurant, the World," a forerunner of her anarchic classic Daisies in which a 
wedding celebration at a bar becomes the centerpiece of a string of increasingly bizarre incidents involving creepy masks, a storm, and a possible killer on the loose. It never comes close to making any sort of sense, but it's visually arresting and tough to shake off. Finally, Jaromil Jireš (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders) directs "Romance," about a plumber and a wandering teen girl who meet up at a movie theater and act out a miniature version of the power struggle going on in their own country.
excellent shape with improved optional English subtitles, and the film itself looks very fresh with both the monochromatic and color footage (the third story) equally immaculate. Also included are two shorts based on Hrabal stories that were 
intended to be included in the film but nixed for running time reasons: Ivan Passer’s A Boring Afternoon (14m10s), previously on Second Run's 2018 Blu-ray of Intimate Lighting and seen here in the same excellent restoration, and Juraj Herz’s The Junk Shop (31m38s), also found on the U.K. and U.S. Blu-rays of The Cremator. This marks the first time all seven stories have been collected together in the same place in an English-friendly presentation, so program your viewing accordingly to see how it might have played out. Also included are a restoration trailer and the 1967 short About Cats, Beatniks and All Sorts of Other Things(12m11s), basically spending an afternoon with Bohumil ruminating about life and art. Also included is a booklet featuring a new, extensive essay by Peter Hames breaking down each story (plus the two excised shorts) including lots of useful information about their cultural references, the source stories, and the approaches of the filmmakers.