I just want to explain (especially to Murushi), that the director does not hate woman and children :o) its's simply so, that the original stories (ballads/folk-tales not fairy tales..) are really cruel and dark.. Director gave these stories a bit modern view, e.g. Vodnik (Waterman) is more a romantic story than a horror story.. He cries in the end so as the girl does. It shows him as a hot-tempered man doing this all in affect and grieving for what he has done. I just try to translate you the original end of this story from the book (if you don't mind - its a clear spoiler :o): Written by K.J.Erben in 1853, according to the old folklore stories in a romanticism style:"Two things they lie in blood here-frisson goes through the back:a child's head without a body a body without a head" Please, excuse my bad English :o)), but you see there is no place for sorrow in this story.. I just want to explain, that these stories are dark in their original but Brabec gave them a new and colorful face and maybe changed a bit our view of these stories (which our people knew from the basic school). I know these stories from my mother, she knows it from her mother and so on.. They even knew some of these poems whole by heart according to the book and were telling them to us when we were children :o) My granny's parents and her grand parents were telling these stories in winter time, when there was cold outside (and TV was no invented yet) and they wanted to have some fun :o)

First, the good: the visuals are stunningly beautiful. Great lighting, wonderful use of colour (especially in the 5th segment, The Golden Spinning-Wheel): the fall colours are amazing, everything is gold orange and red, including the girl's "red" hair and red beads in it. Most of the movie's visual palette is built around white or red or the contrast of the two. The soundtrack is beautiful, some melodies are haunting, all sound almost familiar and help bring the movie closer. Some scenes are mildly erotic and very beautifully - and tastefully - shot.That said, I must move to my second point. The bad and the ugly, all at once.The stories are morbid, totally gruesome. Does Brabec (the screenplay write/director) hate women and children? I don't believe K. J. Erben (the original book author) did, as I have seen his other fairy tales and they are beautiful. But this!!! Ugh!!! In every single segment either a woman or a child or both get hurt and often end up dead. Men are unaffected.I would advise anybody to see the movie for its gorgeous images and lighting, and listen to the beautiful soundtrack, but be warned! This is seriously misogynistic.

F.A. Brabec did an amazing job of directing "Kytice" (wildflowers), which is based on the book "the Seven Ballads". I'm not familiar with the novel, but I must say that the seven Czech fairy tales within the film are extremely nightmarish. These are not fairy tales to read to children before bedtime. One tale concerns an underwater spirit, who takes women captive as wives, if they happen to fall in the water. Another has a girl praying for her boyfriend to return from the dead. He returns in soldier uniform and gives her the power to fly every time she denounces her religious faith. The stories teach bizarre moral lessons, and people end up paying for their bad choices. The cinematography is gorgeous, and should be studied by film students everywhere. The movie is dark, but very moving and filled with colorful life. Jakubisko's art direction is amazing. (he helped produce the film along with his wife) The soundtrack is haunting and will stay with you long after the film is over. In fact I ended up buying the soundtrack, and it is excellent. "Kytice" reminds me of Kurasawa's "Dreams", "Big Fish" and "Valerie and her Week of Wonders" all rolled into one bizarre dream. The Czech Republic is a country thats film industry remains undiscovered by western audiences. I have yet to watch a Czech film that I didn't like. For more dark unsettling Czech folk lore also view Jakubisko's "An Ambiguous Report about the end of the World".

I saw this film before two weeks. It's kitsch, boring and totally unintelligible for people, that haven't read the original book. There are many fact mistakes too... actors plays rather poor, you must laugh even in the sad moments. It was a totally waste of time.