Angels

Alice Nellis tried immensely, you can feel it in every shot. Unfortunately, it turned out that Michal Viewegh's very readable and high-quality novel is unfilmable. Although the Angels of the Everyday are technically precise - and I'm talking about both people and angels - supported by beautiful music and nice camera work, the plot is too literal and gradually bores, until it becomes tiresome. I acknowledge that it is extremely difficult, but perhaps it could have occasionally taken the path of hints or metaphors rather than excessive verbosity. I am disappointed, but I still appreciate the effort and diligence that filming undoubtedly required. (2015-02-23)

It’s not a bad movie, even though I usually struggle with movie adaptations of Michal Viewegh’s books. However, this one did not bother me. On the contrary, I liked the realistic part of the movie, dominated by both Klára Melíšková and Boleslav Polívka, and the abstract part of it in the form of angels, who are more or less just observing. I don’t know the original book and after watching this film I don’t even intend to read it. On the other hand, I have to admit that Alice Nellis clearly did a great job filming it. Some moments were really interesting, and I thought that I don’t usually see moments like that in Czech movies. However, it was worse with the overly complicated finale, which I don’t mind with other films of this type, but here it bordered on absurd. You usually picture angels in some way, but I could never imagine that they would make a deal like they did here. Well, now I can. (2016-01-07)

I liked it despite all the issues that I could look for (and find). High-quality acting performances by almost everyone involved (especially Bolek Polívka and Klara Melíšková), believable emotions and sentiment on the edge, skillful direction and excellent music by Michal Novinski, undoubtedly the most talented contemporary (Czecho)Slovak film music composer. The message of the film is: live, live, live, and don't waste your time on stupid things when you don't know how long it will last. I agree. (2017-04-17)

It almost seems like this movie by Alice Nellis was inspired by Wings of Desire, but attempted to make it more accessible to audiences, akin to City of Angels (a remake of the former). In the end, however, the film turned out to have a few well-acted characters here and there but overall suffers from being boring, where in the end you realize it's actually about nothing. (2016-05-25)

Alice Nellis has delivered a skillfully shot absurdist Viewegh-esque substance with an equally absurd cast. At first glance, it works as a very mature endeavor. The Praguers enjoy less typical views of their homeland, and the cast is paradoxically compact (even Klára Melíšková is not as terrible as usual). However, the subject is really odd. (2014-10-08)