BANGER.

A punk junkie comedy with a cadence of humorous profanity and one-liners and a dramatic climax that gives it an element of seriousness. The film’s creative editing and the authentic form of its hectic handheld (iPhone) camerawork not only give it a solid sense of drive, but also make its otherwise sparse story entertaining, even though the shaky close-ups of faces are too much for the big screen. The depth of Mišík’s expressive acting in the final scene reveals the greatest trauma of his life, when as a child he wanted ice cream and didn’t get it. You will enjoy this film more if you aren’t familiar with the formalistically similar but, in terms of screenwriting, more sophisticated work of the Safdie brothers (especially Uncut Gems). (10.03.2023)

This subculture is completely alien to me, for example, I had no idea about the existence of that funny painted tough guy until Wednesday. The theme and characters of BANGER. went really over my head, but I still have to appreciate that such a film has been made here in Czechia. The screenplay as a whole makes sense (though I have problems with certain details), the performances are fine, and the comedic timing of the dialogue exchanges between Mišík and Bendig is top-notch. I'd ease up on the memes, though. (56th KVIFF) (10.07.2022)

A bit of a disappointment for me. The overall look of the film is quite amateurish, but that's forgivable. The acting is okay. Adam Mišík's performance is authentic and Marsell Bendig is the best thing about the film, even if he was hard to understand at times. Story-wise, it's simple and I was hoping the film would both be about more characters and go more to the extreme. I was expecting a proper rave party and even in terms of drugs it's not as intense as European or American films. This progressive form is welcome Czech cinema, but a film like Vyšehrad was completely different in every way. 6/10. (08.03.2023)

BANGER. is an incredibly frenetically filmed adventure of one night in Prague, and at the same time it is very progressive filmmaking that brings welcome and mainly necessary waves to the otherwise quite stagnant waters of contemporary Czech cinema. I have some minor reservations; I would have cut back on some things and pushed the envelope on others, but all in all it is a high energy ride with dynamism, a distinctive directorial grip and authentic acting. [KVIFF 2022] (19.07.2022)

Rap passes me by in a giant arc and I'm not a fan of handheld cameras, yet BANGER. won me over and I was extremely impressed. It's basically one incredibly wild and frantic ride that works almost perfectly from start to finish. A big part of this is the fact that the film is shot on an iPhone and that the action takes place over the course of a few hours. Thanks to the original insertions and the novel visual concept, this is an extraordinary experience in the context of Czech cinema. When it comes to the acting, I was most entertained by Marsell Bendig (I even thought he was Jan Bendig for a good part of the film), he truly amazed with his performance. Towards the end, the film reminded me of Coal Tower, but it was qualitatively on another level. (27.09.2022)