Prague

I’m a proud Praguer through and through, but I really like this Danish stripping of pink glasses. And why not indeed, when it’s such a good movie and Johansson’s camerawork avoids abusing the beauties of Prague, finding more obscure places and precisely capturing the local melancholic atmosphere. It’s not primarily, even secondarily, about Prague or Czechs, but we find out a lot about ourselves. No frills and brutally honest. It’s as big a lesson for us as Szczygiel’s “Gottland". Mads Mikkelsen matures like wine. Or should I say beer; he enjoys one Pilsner after another throughout the movie, even gulping it down in Sparta’s sacred pub. I just love that guy. Just a shame about that tragic Navrátil. And now I can put those pink glass back on and go out confidently into the whirl of the best city in the whole wide world. Ha, ha. (04/19/2008)

This bitter romantic drama from frosty Denmark, set in Prague, has its pros and cons, and on the whole it is a bland relationship affair dealing with a partnership crisis between two people. Throughout the film, it was impossible not to notice a few nasty references to the Czech capital, like the window instead of the door, goulash on Tuesdays, beer instead of coffee, etc. The Czech actors didn't exactly represent the country in the best light, and it's a good thing that Jana Plodková didn't speak that much English. In short, an average film that has a few good things and shots of Prague, but fades out of your mind a few hours after watching it. (07/14/2011)