Innocence

Another provincial attempt at a complex psychological family drama that at times looks quite worldly, but this impression is confined to a fairly well thought out surface again. It continues to amaze me how many narrative means Hřebejk and Jarchovský are capable of using to produce stories that are so barren, sterile and genderless in terms of any urgency and opinion. Am I to think that Innocence isn't entirely embarrassing, that the actors are good and that modern storytelling means are used here? The more the creative helplessness, blandness and lack of captivating rhythm stand out. For God's sake, when is there going to be anything that's been able to compete with at least a mediocre Scandinavian drama about pathological phenomena in society? (01/24/2011)

It goes something like this: It looks good, but it's not good. Hřebejk certainly knows how to make films, he knows how to choose his actors and music, he uses imaginative camera angles and even an ordinary conversation looks interesting thanks to these aspects... But the screenplay that Jarchovský wrote this time is terrible. I've actually seen two (or three) films connected by an awkward transition, which was probably supposed to take my breath away and make me say "Well, that's really something", but that didn't happen. I honestly suffered through the last third of Innocence. It’s a pity about Ondřej Vetchý, who had practically nothing to do and was still just Ondřej Vetchý, it’s a pity about Luděk Munzár, who was completely useless, and it’s a pity about Anna Geislerová, who also just repeated several characters from her acting past. The two and a half stars I give are purely for Hřebejk's work, and I round up perhaps only for Zita Morávková. But I truly hesitate to do so. (01/12/2011)

While I don’t like comparing, a comparison with the Scandinavian movie The Hunt is at hand. It concerns a similar topic – the abuse of children. In this movie Jan Hřebejk really dug into it and the first half was flawless. Ondřej Vetchý, Anna Linhartová and Hynek Čermák showed really incredible acting performances. However, as soon as this part of the movie unexpectedly quickly closed, Aňa Geislerová entered the scene with the craziest character I’ve ever seen her play on TV and the whole movie suddenly entered a completely different dimension. I am not saying it was bad, I just think that these two ideas could easily function in two movies. And not just in one. (01/09/2016)

I enjoyed this Czech psychological crime drama. The cinematography and music perfectly underscored the wonderfully grim atmosphere. Hynek Čermák outshined everyone else and the young Anna Linhartová gave a very good performance. I tend to start getting bored when watching Czech films. With Kawasaki’s Rose, for instance, I got bored two minutes into the film. Innocence, however, was above average in this respect. Slightly less so in its second half but I did enjoy it and I am satisfied. (12/10/2016)

In the first decade of his directing career, Hřebejk aroused expectations and with at least two titles, he managed to tune in to the needs of Czech society to reconcile so that the wolf would be fed and the goat would remain whole, along with recent history. In later times, his work instead caused doubts. He acts as a shooter suffering from conjunctivitis, so he relies on his instincts and blindly fires. Maybe it will work out. In the context of this trend, Innocence is relatively passable, but in no way good. It is decently directed, and even Geislerová performs decently, but two stories in one are too much. I would have been content with one criminal case seen through to its end, where it would be about a broader statement about the time and society, and where I wouldn't feel constructiveness, greed, and creative helplessness. I will leave three stars because as part of Czech contemporary production, it is still above average, but I won't raise my overall impression above 50%. (11/21/2019)