This
is no ordinary hag. The supernatural predator immortalized in Czech nursery
rhyme and Dvorak’s symphonic suite always strikes at high noon. She may or may
not be stalking the daughter of a recently bereaved widow or possibly her guilt
has metastasized into something toxic in Jiri Sadek’s The Noonday Witch (trailer here), which screens during this year’s Czech That Film in Chicago.
Eliska
has just moved back to her husband provincial hometown with her daughter
Anetka, but without her husband. That is because he is buried there. Evidently,
he died in a misadventure that was most likely suicide, but she has yet to tell
Anetka. Unfortunately, given the nature of his demise, she stands to receive no
insurance benefits. This puts Eliska under tremendous stress that compounds whenever
Anetka asks about her absent father. To make matters worse, the region is
suffering from a historic draught. The last time water tables were this dry,
bad things happened.
It
seems they happened to Mayor Mraz’s desiccated-looking wife. Eventually, Eliska
learns Madame Mrazova was committed for killing her son. Psychologically, she
is unable to bear the guilt, so she now blames the Noonday Witch—or so the
Mayor assumes. Ms. Mrazova has been agitated lately, because she senses the
witch now has her eyes on Anetka. At first, Eliska does not want to hear her
crazy talk, but she eventually sees alarming signs she might be right—or perhaps
the single mother is creating them herself, acting out of guilt, stress, and
the power of suggestion.
Noonday will inevitably be
compared to the over-hyped Babadook,
but it is the superior film by a good measure. Sadek and cinematographer
Alexander Surkala give the film a distinctive look that is both sun-drenched
and eerie. The film has a folkloric vibe, yet it still feels contemporary. Most
critically, Sadek handles the evil entity, such as it might be, with dexterous subtlety.
As
Eliska, Anna Geislerova mentally cracks up quite spectacularly. Whether there
is anything uncanny or not afoot, her nervous breakdown is totally convincing.
Veteran Czech thesp Daniela Kolarova is even creepier as Mrazova, while Zdenek Mucha
grounds the film as the decent, remorseful Mayor Mraz.
