Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet

The famous American detective Nick Carter arrives in Prague. His task is simple: to find a missing dog. But the matter grows quickly and Carter finds himself inside something far stranger; there is a man-eating plant in the city and its name is Adéla. Carter becomes convinced he is facing the Gardener, his great enemy, believed to have died in a swamp years ago. An inspector from the Prague police is with him and the two agree on nothing. Oldřich Lipský's film turns the tradition of the detective novel into parody. The narrative shows Carter not as a superior intellect but as arrogant and often wrong; the one doing the real work is the local inspector. Jan Švankmajer made the plant animation, and those passages are the film's most cited feature. The visual design is among the most ambitious in Czech cinema of the period. Who it's for: Viewers who like Czech cinema, genre parody, and stop-motion animation. Who it's not for: The humour is dry and the pace is uneven. Some jokes also depend on the literary references of the period.