Revival

I didn't want to laugh at the fact that Karel Heřmánek's character lets himself be led around by a slimy manager, lies to his friends for money and his own selfishness, and simply behaves like a first-class bastard. Unfortunately, I have the nagging feeling that the script counted on the fact that these moments with the rehearsal of the coma, lying and so on would be successful and that Heřmánek's keyboard player would actually be a sympathetic character. He's not. If it weren't for Boleslav Polívka and Miroslav Krobot, who turned out to be an excellent duo, Revival would have lacked all the humanity, the nostalgic tears of remembering the old black and white times - that which I was waiting for the most. Otherwise, the film is unfortunately one big advertisement, and it probably promotes Vojtěch Dyk and his band the most, something that doesn't need promotion at all. There aren't many truly funny parts (and when there are, they are the responsibility of Polívka and Krobot), the character of the blind drummer is really annoying, and Zuzana Bydžovská is also quite over the top with her paraphrase of Yoko Ono (I'd rather not even mention her last scene). Two and a half stars, average. Quite a shame. And the best line (by Bolek Polívka) was: "I wouldn't go see us." (15.08.2013)

I like the way the authors took on that movie. I must thank them, not only for the amazing casting, but for the Darkwerk ideas. Polívka, Krobot, Heřmánek and Geišberg make up for an amazing Revival basis. And Jenovéfa Boková has assured me that she’s getting prettier to look at with her every next movie. If only the sincerity in her eyes stayed as long as possible and didn’t get replaced by some other, usually negative trait that comes with fame. In any case, I must also praise Genzer. I don’t see him in movies very often, but the role of the music promoter was done really well. It’s pretty clear that these people are vultures out for money. But it’s a priceless experience to see their doings on the screen like that. Now there’s a third step left – seeing this person live. I think that my life would be complete and I could die happy. However, all of this overshadows the otherwise quite average script. And that’s why I’m rating this four stars. And even despite the fact that I’ve recently seen a much older and much more interesting British movie on a similar – if not identical – topic: Still Crazy. But I’m keeping it at four stars, especially thanks to the actors who made me very happy. (28.03.2014)

I'm not exactly a fan of Alice Nellis, but her work is very helpful in offering something different to contemporary Czech cinema, so let’s let her go on with her experiments. Revival uses a slightly different genre. No, I don't have a fit of happiness every time Krobot performs, but all those etudes by the deserving Polívka and Heřmánek made me very happy. (19.08.2014)

Music comedies are like saffron in the Czech Republic, so a big thanks to Alice Nellis for getting involved. I had a great time, the whole quartet supported by Genzer and Jenovéfa acts absolutely convincingly and in the end, everything is wrapped up in a bittersweet way, which is my favorite combination. A very solid piece of work and in my opinion the 2nd best film by Alice Nellis, as Secrets are unbeatable. (05.02.2014)

A fine Czech comedy that heavily relies on the four actors in the main roles as musicians to carry it through. And they do. True, it’s with the help of younger actors, but they still manage to evoke that nostalgia in the audience. And I just love this nostalgia. It's a shame there wasn't even more of the music because it was quite good. (10.10.2014)