Barnabáš Kos, a meek and modest triangle-player in a state orchestra finds himself unfathomably promoted to Musical Director. Now drunk with power, the once timid Kos turns into a poised, commanding peacock and seeks to transform the orchestra to suit his own agenda and inflated vision...
Peter Solan (Before Tonight is Over) crafts an absurdist, darkly funny Kafkaesque satire of a corrupt system that rewards mediocrity and breeds petty dictatorship. Openly criticising the practices of socialist Czechoslovakia at the time, its wry exposure of hypocrisy, sycophancy and the corrupting influence of power remains, unsurprisingly, fresh and relevant even today.
The Barnabáš Kos Case is presented from a new 2K restoration by the Slovak Film Institute. Our region-free Blu-ray also includes a selection of archival short films, including Peter Solan's powerful 1974 short film Nemecka - plus a booklet with new writing on the film by Czechoslovak cinema expert Jonathan Owen and filmmaker Peter Strickland.
