Honeymoon

This film is like Dogma with incredibly stupid descriptive monologues and one-liners like "we hid inside of each other". The only uncertainty in the film is when one of the characters goes from book recitations to wooden talk. Psychology? Ridiculous. Trier's final heist beyond the edge of everything. A fake game of an aestheticized tragedy, under which there is a black hole of persistent efforts to get inside the pathology of human relationships. It's not just that Jarchovsky's scenarios are excessive, unnatural and disintegrating (although they can theoretically reconstruct logical thematic units, contexts and intentions to shake the viewer), it's that Hřebejk chooses a senselessly pompous style instead of civility, which exacerbates the debility as a result. His films do not lack ambition and potentially a world look, but they do desperately lack the ability to get into characters in ways other than through visual and verbal explicitness. Sorry, but this fake offends me deeply. [30%] (08/21/2013)

The film looks as if its creators were trying to make a B movie thriller from the 1990s, which does not go hand in hand with Hřebejk's poetics of humorous supporting characters. This special comedic-dramatic mix survives thanks to the camera and great actors. However, a strong story, a meaningful plot construction and, above all, focus, are all missing. This is rather a disappointment due to the missed opportunity. (07/02/2013)

I have reservations about the final quarter of an hour, which is brought down by the weak script. Nevertheless, such a good psychological drama, captivatingly filmed by cinematographer Martin Štrba, would probably be hard to find in Czech cinema over the last ten years. A lot of credit for this goes not only to the quality direction of Jan Hřebejk but also to the convincing performances of the central trio. (75%) (02/11/2021)

I can't help but think this film is extremely well constructed, where you have an almost uncomfortable sense of something terrible that could happen. This may not come to fruition in the way you expect, but the film is still quite gritty in its second half. This is where Hřebejk's mastery of gradually revealing what is important comes into play. (03/08/2018)

The dialogue was at times so silly you couldn't possibly say it, the acting unconvincing for the camera – it would have worked in the theatre and there would have been ovations, but it didn't fit a film. A good nibble here and there and you get the feeling that’s how it would happen and it all feels natural, but then it's broken up by bad acting or moronic dialogue. Here and there a nice image, but this film is not artistic... where is Czech cinema headed? :-D (07/06/2013)