Chwile

A great performance by Jenovéfa Boková, well-observed dialogues and situations, an apt title, a hint of Forman's view of the world... and yet something was missing. The start was great, but as the end approached, the probe into the life of a young, still unfulfilled woman constantly belittled by her surroundings was slowly losing momentum. Upon watching it for the second time, I noticed certain similarities with the movie Indian Summer, which I really like. Moments, however, does not quite reach that film’s qualities in my eyes. (65%) (05.12.2020)

Social deviation everywhere, absolution nowhere. The main protagonist (the excellent Jenovéfa Boková) is so intrinsically troubled by her pessimistic grandmother, her mother who does nothing, her demanding father and her married lover. So much so that she cannot even express it in words to her psychologist. She therefore decides to act in a way that completely stupid and dangerous for her. Everyone constantly nags at her and undermines her self-confidence, but she always just accepts it passively, doesn't say anything to anyone and pretends that she’s ok so that she can go and cry somewhere in private later. Many viewers, also to some extent those who are similarly oppressed and emotionally manipulated by their own family, will certainly recognize themselves in the story. However, the film gives them no way out of the trap, instead providing only silent suffering. There is a remarkable authenticity and feel for dialogue to the film, in particular at the beginning, but it is later taken over by cold depression, amounting to “moments" with family members that only offer a very indistinct and flickering light at the end of the tunnel. (01.07.2018)

I watched the film mainly because of Jenovéfa Boková and I wasn’t disappointed. She was the driving force of the whole film, and I found Anežka really intriguing and relatable. Just like me, she belonged to the group of people who are hiding in their hard shell, letting only a few people in. Fortunately, Anežka had not yet mastered a natural-looking artificial smile, which made her all the more interesting. I really enjoyed this film. (09.05.2019)

I thank the creators of 3Kino festival for enlivening the premiere of this movie with a nice discussion after the viewing with Jenovéfa Boková and Beata Parkanová - It is a shame that there aren’t more discussions like this one and the Czech viewer isn’t really used to them. It explained many things about the movie, and it forced me to think about it more. The film isn’t badly managed from a technical standpoint, Jenovéfa not only gave a bombastic and, for Czech standards, unbelievably depressive performance, she also showed how fine a person she is; just like Beata, who talked very openly about the movie. It is a shame, then, that the movie opens up the psychological side of Jenovéfa’s character but isn’t really looking for answers. It doesn’t actually communicate with the viewer. It only points stuff out and that bummed me out a bit in the final context of the movie. The dialogues were, however, at times brilliant and made me laugh in points where only a Czech film could make me laugh. When it comes to irony, we are the masters of humor. When it came to my rating, I was thinking hard between 3 and 4 stars. The ending, however, confirmed for me that the mental insights aren’t enough, and I ended up with really solid 3 stars. However, the movie together with the discussion was a really nice experience, which I would like to experience more of in the future with the filmmakers. There is nothing better than getting to know the creators through discussions, not through questionable tabloids and newspapers. That’s what I miss a bit when it comes to Czech movies. (08.11.2018)

I would like to see more of this kind of variety in Czech cinema. A civil, sadly funny film, which rests on its dialogue and the personality of the main character. I've always liked Jenovéfa. I like how she is her own person, how great irony sounds coming out of her mouth, and also how "normal" she is. Yeah, I was missing a bit more of an ending, but on the other hand I appreciate that for once someone isn't telling us how to live. 3.5 stars. (01.09.2021)