‘The Banned & Beautiful’

This weekend producer-director Ivan Reitman, a native Czechoslovakian, will present at the American Cinematheque at the Directors Guild “The Banned & the Beautiful: A Survey of Czechoslovak Filmmaking, 1965-70.” All 11 films in the retrospective ran afoul of the censors after the 1968 Soviet invasion. Only one of the 11, Ivan Passer’s 1965 “Intimate Lightning,” has had a regular run at a local theater. The films are being presented at the Guild, 7920 Sunset Blvd., in association with the LA Weekly, Joseph Papp’s Film at the Public and the Pacific Film Archive.

Among the key films are Jaromil Jires’ 1968 “The Joke” (screening Saturday at 7:15 p.m.) and Dusan Hanak’s 1969 “Diagnosis 322” (at 9 p.m. Saturday). None of the well-known films of the short-lived Czech New Wave of the ‘60s prepares us for the impact of “The Joke,” which Milan Kundera and Jires adapted from Kundera’s novel. It’s a work of devilishly deceptive simplicity: Ludvik (Josef Somr), a dark, compact man of perhaps 40, is being interviewed by a vivacious TV reporter (Jana Ditetova) when he realizes that she is married to an old enemy--and that he could easily seduce her as a way of revenge.

In this bleak yet darkly humorous film, Jires and Kundera aren’t merely condemning the extreme repression of the Stalinist era and warning us of the futility of revenge: They are also suggesting that we all share a responsibility for the times in which we live. Ironically, “The Joke” was completed just after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Despite the jaunty tone set by its score, “Diagnosis 322,” which turns upon a middle-aged chef (Vaclav Lohnisky) being diagnosed for cancer, is a terrifically rigorous, determinedly low-key depiction of everyday life in which Hanak, director of the superb “Pictures of the Old World,” deals with the difficult business of distinguishing between living and merely existing, which confronts every individual.

Information: (213) 466-FILM.