What It's About:

At a sleepy village railway station in German-occupied Czechoslovakia, a young dispatcher’s apprentice, Milos (Neckar), longs for little more than a leisurely life and a desire to lose his virginity. Whiling away the days and generally oblivious to the Nazi menace, he marvels, mouth agape, at his elder co-worker’s sexual misadventures, flirts with a comely conductress (Bendova), and tries to steer clear of his excitable boss.

Why I Love It:

Menzel’s delightful charmer from the heyday of the Czech New Wave mostly avoids politics to spin the tale of an unambitious rural lad’s post-adolescent ennui. A wry, winsome lethargy defines the film’s light-comic tone more than anything, even when the daydreaming Milos volunteers for a suicide mission. “Trains” won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but was rebuked by the Soviet-era leadership, who balked at its tender and funny observations on the human condition.