Directed by:
Dušan KleinScreenplay:
Václav NývltCinematography:
Josef VanišComposer:
Petr HapkaCast:
Josef Abrhám, Viktor Preiss, Pavel Zedníček, Pavel Kříž, Zlata Adamovská, Markéta Hrubešová, Miloš Kopecký, Jiří Lábus, Marian Labuda, Gabriela Wilhelmová (more)Plots(1)
A period comedy based on a story by Bohumil Hrabal about four men impersonating insurance agents who ply their wares in Bohemia just prior to the Communist takeover at the end of the forties. (official distributor synopsis)
Videos (1)
Reviews (2)
This is a typical case of a film that lacks flavor and scent, one that neither provokes nor impresses in any obvious way, and one that you'll likely forget about in a few hours. It features conventional direction and editing, essentially a television-like presentation, where alongside the likable cast (the traditionally good Josef Abrhám and Viktor Preiss), only the selection of exteriors stands out, creating a nostalgic retro image of a Czech small town in the mid-1940s. This Bohumil Hrabal novel could have been adapted much more elegantly and with greater courage. Overall impression: 45%.
()
It is as if Dušan Klein made a movie based on the best from Jiří Menzel and Bohumil Hrabal, which is however missing the chemistry of these two creators. At the beginning it is very clear that those are characters from Hrabal’s world, but a solid acting spectacle gets interrupted by a boring story and an absence of the melancholic humour which is so typical for Menzel and Hrabal.
()
Ads