Kwietne pączki

I don't know why social drama should be something between the book of Job and the Revelation of St. John in ungodly industrial scenery... Paradoxically, he does not look at the fates of the heroes of Flower Buds any more tragically when, instead of a perceptive inner characteristic, the creator imposes more and more hardships on them, lets them vegetate in a disgusting world without hope and reduces their relationships to more or less negative social interactions. Rather than an authentic social statement about the crisis and the fringe, we have a magnificent theater of ruin and despair which, instead of catharsis, contains a refined screenwriting twist - but if it thought about in terms of consequence, it says nothing about the characters, the world or (almost absent) moral values. Neither the work of the raw qualities of Fish Tank was created, nor the stylized image of the "rough subtlety" of the fate of the dimensions of Adam's Apples, nor the convincingly escalated social statement of everyday hope in despair as in Bliss... a narrative and relatively cultivated film was created, which is harmed by the mannerist effort to impress and depict the world in the grayest possible colors. Paradoxically, the shades that turn the construct into a living tissue disappear. Flower Buds stuck to the Spartakiad surface of fundamental ills and perverted social rituals, rather than offer a detailed analysis of what is so fatal in life in "neo-normalization". But even during those few successful scenes and solid acting, it must be evaluated as above-average for the Czech Republic and Jiráský must be credited to the innumerable list of Czech hopes. (15.12.2011)

Flower Buds is far from perfect, roughly as much as the Czech Republic is from the standard of living in Luxembourg. There are many things to criticize the film for, but above all, it is the lack of script development or rather overcomplication. On the other hand, it is a sympathetic film that I enjoy watching, especially since this genre is rare here, and Jiráský entered the domain where only Bohdan Sláma had previously operated. By the way, with the honorable exception of Country Teacher, I have a worse attitude toward Bohdan Sláma's films than towards Jiráský's. Despite some missteps, Jiráský seems overall more convincing to me. To his credit, I can mention the casting, work with the actors and camera, and above all, the choice of settings. Jiráský belongs to the handful of Czech directors who can evoke an atmosphere using music, visuals, and lighting, and in this case, the atmosphere of desolation and hopelessness. Jiráský - and I find this sympathetic as well - does not look at his antiheroes with any naivety, as they are characters who are actively working during their time in the basement in one way or another. Last but not least, I find this film sympathetic because it portrays members of the Vietnamese minority, as this, like many other things, is not cultivated in the Czech film industry. Overall impression: 75%. (16.03.2014)

The aesthetics of Flower Buds may be somewhat attractive and different. Yet the situations outlined here say nothing, go nowhere. Finally, even the film about the film said that it was just a fairy tale for adults and that's how we should approach it. The debuting director Javorský and the Polish actress Pikus do not form a team I would like to return to. However, certain aspects can be traced elsewhere - the Vietnamese community in Miss Hanoi, the ugly depressing small towns currently shown in every other series... or overall, thematically, something can be traced in certain wholes, but individually it's no pleasure. (29.03.2020)