Code Name Ruby (1997)

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Director Jan Nemec was one of the leading figures of the Czech New Wave of the 1960s, making a number of acclaimed features (most notably O Slavnosti a Hostech) before emigrating to France in 1974, which -- at least for a time -- signaled the end of his career as a director. Jmeno kodu: Rubin was… More Director Jan Nemec was one of the leading figures of the Czech New Wave of the 1960s, making a number of acclaimed features (most notably O Slavnosti a Hostech) before emigrating to France in 1974, which -- at least for a time -- signaled the end of his career as a director. Jmeno kodu: Rubin was Nemec's first dramatic feature after returning to his native Czechoslovakia following the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Prague has long been a center for the practice of alchemy, and in Jmeno kodu: Rubin two young people, Michal (Jan Potmesil) and Ruby (Lucie Rejchrtova), search the city for the mystic stone of a noted philosopher. The story examines the past and how it influences present actions, as Nemec blends fiction, documentary footage, and archive material into a cinematic mélange that blends history with speculation about the future. Jmeno kodu: Rubin was completed in 1997 but did not receive its United States release until 1999. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi