FORMAN VS. FORMAN

Shortly thereafter, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia prompted Forman to emigrate to the United States. His first American-made film, 'Taking Off' (1971), was a commercial failure, but he found mainstream success four years later with his incisive adaptation of Ken Kesey's 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest', which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Forman's subsequent filmography is full of rich fictionalised portraits, both of eras ('Hair', 'Ragtime', 'Valmont') and of real individuals ('The People vs. Larry Flynt', 'Man On The Moon'). To date, his masterwork remains the brilliant 'Amadeus', a vividly textured, gorgeously realised reinterpretation of the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that swept the Oscars in 1984.

'Forman vs. Forman' sees the director muse on working within the Hollywood system and his humble yet complex childhood - in recordings from the early 1980s with Věra Chytilová and Jaromil Jireš he discusses freedom, creative work and the restrictions on both. The film also captures him in remarkably relaxed moments, like when one of his infant sons picks a DVD for them to watch together. Unfortunately, it's the Tom Cruise-starring 'The Last Samurai'. "It's about this guy who wants to become a samurai, so... he's trying to become a samurai," Forman explains, with supreme disinterest, to the boy.

Miloš Forman experienced life-changing events and was able to take advantage of them and turn them into a narrative of an individual‛s never-ending fight for freedom against institutions. Jakub Hejna and Helena Třeštíková's film does a remarkable job of connecting the archives and Forman's words and this clear account of the life of one of the world's greatest filmmakers should be embraced by anyone who has any interest in the complex relationship between fortune, misfortune, politics and the creative arts.