Buko

I went into it with the lowest possible expectations because films about how a horse changes someone's life, while still not crossing the boundaries of zoophilic pornography, are my enemy. So, at the beginning, I was pleasantly surprised by how well-written and performed the film is in a civilian manner. But I kept wondering what the motivation is to make such a story. What attracts anyone to do something like that at all? When the tables turned and the old lady began to stand on her own next to the horse, which may have its years too, but is still full of spirit, I remembered that aimless beginning with love. I admit that I don't give much credit to these Czech films, so the closest comparison I found was with the absolutely terrible Theory of the Tiger, whose existence is also the reason for my greater benevolence towards Buk. Both films are based on cheap animal metaphors that motivate towards second-layer depth and liberation from external constraints, either represented by women (Theory) or family relationships represented by hysterical women (lol, this too). This process of individualism and disconnection is necessarily linked to a late capitalist framework of utopian pseudo-rural environments as imagined and adapted by the bourgeoisie, which can be collectively referred to as "Medieval with a Hotspot". The grass is always green here, the trees are laden, the wood is varnished, buns are on the table, and spirits on the seventh step. Even the worst films of the 90s or normalization era can be retrospectively rehabilitated because they give us a credible insight into the environment, expression, and customs of the time (whether it's Whisper, Solitary, Mandragora, Disco Story, or The Woman Behind the Counter), but contemporary mainstream films often take place in some dreamy advertising interval where we practically never find ourselves in a public space and those people are completely locked away from the surroundings. And now find your way to them. PS: Just out of curiosity, I wonder why Issová is holding a pitchfork on the poster, which never appears in anyone's hands throughout the whole film, and why Kubačák is wearing a t-shirt with psychedelic patterns, which he also doesn't wear throughout the entire film. (29.12.2022)