The long-awaited film (there were 10 years of legal disputes who has the filming rights) arrived. First of all, I feel the movie will not be as popular as "Postriziny" (AKA Short Cut) as Menzel decided to show also the bad parts on the Czech(oslovak)s. Yet it might be more appealing to non-European viewers. The rating will also depend on whether the viewers have red the Hrabal's novel or not and whether they were (dis)satisfied with the novel-movie link made.
The choice of the characters is really good (note some similarity in appearance of the actresses; the resemblance of actresses really documents Menzel's poetics) and the movie starts quite well. However, the first half is much better than the second one. In about two-thirds the director should move towards the message of the movie yet this part and the message delivery seems to be the most problematic. Sharp cut (or Short Cut?) could help to eliminate several slightly lengthy passages at this stage. The shift of the character is believable yet the movie can be misguiding in the CAUSE of the character shift (compared with the novel).
The choice of the characters is really good (note some similarity in appearance of the actresses; the resemblance of actresses really documents Menzel's poetics) and the movie starts quite well. However, the first half is much better than the second one. In about two-thirds the director should move towards the message of the movie yet this part and the message delivery seems to be the most problematic. Sharp cut (or Short Cut?) could help to eliminate several slightly lengthy passages at this stage. The shift of the character is believable yet the movie can be misguiding in the CAUSE of the character shift (compared with the novel).