For years among the most obscure of Czech New Wave classics, Jaromil Jires's amazing Valerie and her Week of Wonders (1970) finally gets its release thanks to the wonderful folks at Facets Video. Jires, with more than forty features to his credit but best known for his earlier adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel The Joke, remains a secret treasure of world cinema.

On the surface, this sprightly 73-minute "horror" film tells the tale of a lovely young woman's blossoming, that is, it's essentially an allegory for first menstruation disguised as a vampire movie. Naturally, a gift of earrings with magical powers allows her to see the truth behind the bizarre behavior of her fellow villagers (and, if that seems unusual, this is only the beginning of the strange happenings that inhabit this fascinating film). If there are any doubts about the qualities of this spectacular film, the British band Broadcast recently used composer Lubos Fiser's melody for the song Valerie on their latest album. -- Jonathan Marlow.

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