Hany

É óbvio que fazer uma longa-metragem com apenas três edições deve ter sido extremamente difícil. O número grande de personagens, as festas selvagens, as viagens noturnas de eléctrico e as manifestações nas ruas funcionam muito melhor do que eu esperava (e quando comparo Hany com outros filmes do estrangeiro, filmados com o mínimo de tomadas, o representante checo lidera claramente). É um pouco lamentável que Hany não possua um arco de história mais significativo e, em vez disso, ofereça «apenas» pequenos fragmentos de diferentes situações, através dos quais se refletir a geração contemporânea, e se expressa através de diálogos banais sobre temas fundamentais (violência no homem, tédio que culmina em agressão). Estes são depois tratados de uma forma que é normalmente bastante embaraçosa nos filmes checos sobre a juventude contemporânea, o que não é o caso aqui. Se há esperança e sangue fresco algures no cinema checo contemporâneo, prometendo um influxo de energia pulsante de entusiasmo, está definitivamente na equipa criativa de Michal Samir e Matěj Chlupáček. (30/06/2014)

An empty emptiness that says nothing, even about emptiness itself. If this is supposed to be an attempt to diagnose generational frustration, only nicely-filmed generational clichés have been created. Screenwriting exercises with poorly-constructed characters, uninterestingly stagnant situations which, even when filmed in one (three) shot(s) do not create the impression of fluidity of time and space, but rather disconcerted volatility from detail to detail, and from there to a helplessly cycled whole. The naturalness of the conversation is constantly brought down by the fact that the characters, in addition to the constant babble, also emphasize the wearing of masks and the exhibitionist covering of their own insignificance (it is sometimes so stubbornly literal that it seems completely unrealistic). The essence of frustration and aggression probably unintentionally appears here as something that the creators secretly fear from behind safe cafe windows, but they are not able to give it a meaningful shape and motivation. When Samir refers to the London Riots, in relation to Hany I remember the mocking chorus of the destructive symphony of London rapper Plan B: "Oiy! I said Oiy! / What you looking at you little rich boy! / We're poor 'round here, run home and lock your door / don't come 'round here no more, you could get robbed for." From the youngest generation, I would expect radicality, irritability, subversiveness, not comfortable undiscovered stereotypes. I really can go squat in Hany Bany and stare dumbly on the street, where the same empty, irrelevant, but noticeably screaming nothing has been going on for years. Two stars for the courage to try to film differently and Žiaran's quite impressive camera. [40%] (28/04/2014)

Even though the format is impressive, and I admire anyone who takes on shooting without editing, that's really the only thing I could and would admire. Otherwise, I find it incredibly hollow and just a showcase of uninteresting characters - at least uninteresting to me - that I don't want to watch. Each of them is irritating in some way, though most of all Jiří Kocman. None of them really have anything to say. (13/05/2016)