A friend of mine invited me to a showing of this film. I'm a pretty big film guy, and since I had never seen a Czech film I agreed to come along. But I don't think this was a good start for me. There were parts of the film I really liked. Some of the characters were interesting, like the budding magician with a bad lisp. But most of them just tried to hard to be quirky. The framework used as the plot moves very slowly, and I found myself being bored on several occasions. Some scenes really stood out, but the good didn't outweigh the bad. The cinematography and color palate was interesting, but in no way original. And the ending, without spoiling anything, seems like a clichéd, unnecessary cop out that's been beaten to death in recent films. If you're big into Czech film, maybe give this one a look. You might appreciate it more than I did. But if you're not, give it a pass. Very "meh".
Review of Blízko nebe
