Gäste aus der Galaxis

Mir ist klar, warum die Idee von dieser seltsamen Sache zu Miloš Macourek gelangt ist – die Geschichte über einen Schriftsteller, der die Fähigkeit hat, eigene Vorstellungen und Sehnsüchte zu materialisieren, ist eine wunderbare Grundlage für eine verrückte Komödie. Leider wollte diesmal von Macourek offensichtlich niemand Spaß und so ist es auch ausgegangen. Der ernste Science-Fiction-Ton und Pathos passen einfach nicht zu manchen Szenen, z. B. wie ein bärtiger Vater ein Kind stillt, das ihm die Brüste angezaubert hat. Zum Monster selbst werde ich mich aus Respekt zu Jan Švankmajer lieber überhaupt nicht äußern. (14.10.2020)

Offensichtlich einer der am meisten unterschätzten und seltsamsten tschechoslowakischen Filme, auf den ich gestoßen bin. Visitors from the Galaxy ist natürlich sehr bizarr und schwer einzuordnen, da es auf einer ziemlich seltsamen Skala von kreativen Herangehensweisen an das Comedymaterial operiert. Von sehr familienfreundlichen Szenen mit ungezogenen blonden Außerirdischen springt es zu lasziven Episoden mit einer Gruppe von Nackten und schließlich zu recht wilden Szenen des Außerirdischen-Monsters, das Köpfe abreißt und Feuer spuckt. Eine verspielte und aufgewühlte Vorstellung, die viele Zuschauer nicht eindeutig erfassen werden. (11.03.2020)

In terms of its formal execution (and the crazy script, too, Macourek must have been on mushrooms), it was a rather unique affair in the history of Czechoslovak cinema at the time. After all, in what other film of that era of politically minded cinema, when nudity was still relegated to the realm of very subtle shots and graphic violence was almost taboo, could you see a film with crowds of people walking around with undisguised nudity and with brutally severed heads in plates of soup. And all of this, please, was shown as part of the then Workers' Film Festival. Had this film been re-released years later (it has never been shown on TV) so today's audiences could become more familiar with it, it would be a minor cult classic today. The only minor problem for me is how to actually rate such an obscure affair with muddled direction in a meaningful way, which is why I choose a cautious two stars. (24.11.2005)

My theory is that the director Vukotić deliberately shot material that left him free to go in any genre direction afterwards with only minimal editing as the situation developed. So in the film we can find the ideal basis for family science fiction, dreamy manchild, absurdist comedy, pure avant-garde, and soft porn. But somehow it didn't work out after that, apparently he lost interest in the film, so he just bolted it all together and dropped the mic. If this work is ever found by a real alien civilization, it will cook their brains. (09.03.2020)

It's understandable that a failed sci-fi writer's characters might materialize as two brats in golden spacesuits and their caretaker with a laser whip and a coffee machine in her fingers. But for Studio Barrandov and Jadran Film to bring this to life is beyond comprehension. When a blue Christmas ornament resembling a bauble flies around, Ivana Andrlová sings, and it’s so tedious you’d even groom a mustache on Věra Kalendová just for some entertainment. However, then things start to happen! First, a phallic proboscis harasses Ivana and the carnations, then goes on a rampage at a Balkan party. Torn-off arms, deformed guests, a flamethrower in action, Karel Augusta with a shotgun playing MacReady until he loses his head… I suspect that blind harmonica player was a disguised Carpenter, watching to see how it should be done in a year! Still, I ask the robot to pat her belly and make me time travel to let me forget everything I’ve seen. (26.08.2024)