Kovář z Podlesí
Kovář z Podlesí
Directed by:
Pavel GöblScreenplay:
Pavel GöblCinematography:
Richard ŠpůrCast:
Bolek Polívka, Gregor Bauer, Valerie Šámalová, Filip Dvořák, Matěj Převrátil, Josef Somr, Milan Markovič, Rostislav Novák ml., Jiří Pecha, Szidi Tobias (more)Plots(1)
Woodham is a small village the war with the Turks swept through some years ago. The powers of good were asked for assistance, but this assistance involved the doing of evil, which has adverse consequences and brings bad luck... that needs to be redressed. The main hero, the Blacksmith's nephew and war orphan Tonik, takes on the task of breaking the curse on Woodham and thereby winning the hand of Betka, the mayor's granddaughter (who is also put under a spell during the action), by ridding the county of the dragon. However, on his journey to confront the dragon and during that encounter he discovers that it is all in fact a test, which ends with the dragon helping him: Tonik, with the dragon's help, breaks the spell on Betka and the entire county. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
I'm quite sad to have to rate The Blacksmith From Woodham so poorly. The film just doesn't work well as a whole. The individual performances are excellent - Polívka, Somr, Seidlová and the puppet dubbers. The combination of acting action with a mechanical puppet and other interesting special effects (the use of camera obscura) is bold and daring and I would like to see more of such elements in Czech films. It is also interesting to set the fairy tale in a different time period than is usual in the region... Hence the unorthodox costumes, etc. However, the child actors are downright weak, the script lacks the steady hand of a dramaturgist, and so a look at the whole is unfortunately just a parade of missed opportunities.
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The word "actor" seems to come from the verb "to play", not "to act". At least that's the impression one gets from the movie "The Blacksmith of Podlesí", where the actors actually play in a created world and even have moving toys that talk to them, thanks to the presence of animated puppets/animals. The story is a mishmash of various fairy tales, as if the creators didn't know which one to choose. Several plot lines converge into one that is not particularly entertaining. Even the familiar actors don't help with that. However, Mr. Somr surprised me, as he is incredibly lively for his age. We simply don't know how to make these fairy tales. This one also tries to be cute and accessible to everyone, but it only creates the impression that at times the creators didn't know if they were writing for adults or for children.
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