Cutting It Short

{{Short description|1980 Czechoslovak comedy film}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Cutting It Short

| image = Cutting It Short.poster.jpg

| caption =

| director = Jiří Menzel

| producer =

| writer = Jiří Menzel
Bohumil Hrabal

| narrator =

| starring =

| music =

| cinematography = Jaromír Šofr

| editing = Jiří Brožek

| distributor =

| released = {{Film date|1981|02|01|Czechoslovakia|1983|10| |U.S.|df=y}}

| runtime = 93 minutes

| country = Czechoslovakia

| language = Czech

| budget = 4,000,000 koruna

}}

Cutting It Short (also released as Shortcuts) ({{langx|cs|Postřižiny}} - literraly: First haircut) is a 1980 Czechoslovak comedy film directed by Jiří Menzel. It is based on the novel Postřižiny by Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal. The story is set in a brewery in a Czech small town.[http://www.csfd.cz/film/6665-postriziny/zajimavosti/ Entry on Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze] (in Czech)

The film is an evocation of the childhood memories of Bohumil Hrabal in his provincial town of Nymburk, dominated by the local brewery. The main actors of the film, uncle Pepin and Maryška, are based on real family members of Hrabal: Maryška on his mother and uncle Pepin on his real uncle, who came to stay two weeks in the town but remained for forty years. His spontaneous stories influenced much of Hrabal's literary work.{{cite book | last = Hames | first = Peter | year = 2011 | title = Menzel and Hrabal (booklet included with the DVD) | publisher= Second Run DVD }}

The film was entered into the main competition at the 38th edition of the Venice Film Festival.Adriano Aprà, Giuseppe Ghigi, Patrizia Pistagnesi. Cinquant'anni di cinema a Venezia. La Biennale di Venezia, 1982. {{ISBN|8820802988}}.

According to the film critic and historian Peter Hames, Cutting It Short, which frequently quotes or refers to silent comedy, is one of the best post-Tati comedies.

Theodor Pištěk designed the costumes for the film.