Amerikánka

Taušova Amerikánka hat innerhalb des modernen inländischen Kinos keine Vergleiche - sowohl aus audiovisueller Sicht als auch in Bezug auf die Handlung (eine surrealistische Anspielung auf Geraubtes Leben). In Bezug auf die Kameraperspektive und die Kulissen erinnerte mich der Film oft an die Werke von Michel Gondry (und auch ein wenig an Wes Anderson), und ich habe die eindrucksvoll gestalteten und farbenfrohen Szenen aus dem Umfeld eines Kinderheims und eines "Sandkastens" wirklich genossen. Manchmal erschienen mir einige Dialoge unbeholfen, besonders wenn sie von den kindlichen Schauspielern kamen, was jedoch verständlich ist - mit den erwachsenen (erfahrenen) Schauspielern war ich jedoch sehr zufrieden. Die junge Klára Kitto war jedoch absolut phänomenal! Außerdem hat mir der ausgewählte Soundtrack wirklich gut gefallen - besonders Perdono ("So leer"), der dem Film eine traumhafte und an vielen Stellen recht rätselhafte Atmosphäre verlieh. Amerikánka verdient sicherlich die Aufmerksamkeit des Publikums und einen Besuch auf der großen Leinwand. (08.10.2024)

Could there be hope for Czech cinema after all? An unflinching, almost fantastical treatment by Viktor Tauš of a simple story about a girl from orphanage, captured with an unusually artistic and dreamy directorial touch. This is something the Czechs have never done, and it is hard to say whether this form will be embraced by viewers who go to the cinema to see the usual crap. This film is proof that talent in Czechia has not died out yet and on the contrary, it is expanding beyond new horizons, offering views that caress not only the soul but also the eye. Send this to the Oscars, not some rehashed themes from the Communist era. This is the new wave. (15.10.2024)

With the awareness that I clearly wrote at Špinarovic The Idiot that a theatrical film is always bad, I admit succumbing to the American, which occurred by some direct attack on my instincts. Perhaps for the first time since Eliška Likes Wilderness, it happened to me with a Czech film that despite numerous reservations, I believed in it unconditionally the whole time. Just as with Eliška or the early garage films, I perceived that (especially) the child actors not only play here but, mainly during the film, they play. The frequent apparent chaos of lively kids playing with the earnestness of camp games and school pranks, along with the close wild camera work, adds an engaging authenticity to the film, visually reminiscent of naive teenage fantasies of self-liberation that we were full of during adolescence. The huge disappointment comes straight from the final informational monologue about what the film actually was because it destroys all previous personal connections to the story and quickly has to explain to us how important a film we actually saw instead of allowing us to continue lingering in it. (Furthermore, I wouldn't be surprised if the same pretentious producer who promotes the current documentary I'm Still Not Who I Want to Be as an inspiring motivational film stood behind this unnecessary self-important addition). (01.10.2024)

The vision of a film as a Gesamtkunstwerk, i.e. a complete work of art, an uncompromising vision that’s ruthless, unreasonable, disjointed, skewed and thus total, absorbing and fascinating. This film combines the aesthetics and techniques of modern theatre, music videos and the entire historical tradition of expressive symbolist cinema from Fellini to Kusturica and many others in a deluge of saturated colours with contemporary dynamics and a brilliant analogue rendering of metaphors, while works of art and installations are transformed into props and symbols pulsing with life. The only relatively recent domestic film that comes to mind for comparison is the more ponderous Menandros & Thaïs from 2016 (though I’m not an authority and I’d be happy to be proven wrong). Unlike that film’s poetic ambition to be an innovative retelling of an old myth, Amerikánka puts forth a heartfelt effort to touch viewers with an amalgam of life stories and their attendant emotions, hopes, disappointments, struggles, rage and fleeting illusions. With an open mind and fresh eyes, it works fantastically. I am thankful that we can have such films that tenaciously take their own path and that are such a joy to fall in love with. (27.09.2024)

Very unique and exceptional film, not resembling anything that is being produced in the Czech Republic. It's very unconventional in its narration and what is more important, it has stunning production design (probably not very expensive but effective) and cinematography with a lot of color filters and split screens.Interesting film for any cinema-lover. (29.09.2024)