The unruly early films of Yugoslav “Black Wave” iconoclast Dušan Makavejev are rounded up in the latest Eclipse box set.
Before his suggestive opus WR: Mysteries of the Organism, in which he took on Wilhelm Reich’s orgasm-focused philosophy, Makavejev made three brash tales that probed love, labor, and the pursuit of happiness in his communist homeland during the ’60s. The liberated, sociopolitical bricolage of these films — Love Affair, for instance, features everything from a criminology lecture to a cooking demonstration — made him an art-house hero and, soon, an enemy of the state.
Watch an exuberant, Verdi-scored scene from Love Affair, read Criterion’s essay about the collection, learn more about Makavejev, peruse an in-depth interview, and buy the set
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Man Is Not a Bird (1965)
Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967)
Innocence Unprotected (1968)