Taking Off

Forman’s first English-language film (which the director calls his “last Czech film”), Taking Off won a special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. An absurdist comedy that, according to Senses of Cinema, “successfully welded together (Forman’s) passions for physical comedy and social satire,” the film concerns a teenage daughter who runs away from the privileged home of her parents (Buck Henry and Lynn Carlin). They connect with the Society for Parents of Fugitive Children and do a little rebelling of their own. 1971, 35mm, 93 minutes.