Directed by:
Radim ŠpačekScreenplay:
Ondřej ŠtindlCinematography:
Jaromír KačerComposer:
Tomáš VtípilCast:
Ondřej Malý, Kristína Tormová, Martin Finger, Luboš Veselý, Lukáš Latinák, Barbora Milotová, Oldřich Kaiser, Ivana Uhlířová, Iva Pazderková, Jana Janěková (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Czechoslovakia, 1982. The totalitarian regime seems to be endless and impossible to end. Antonín, a member of the secret police, is restless in the inside, maybe even a psychopathic violent man full of unarticulated rage and despair. Bored with everything around him, he directs his demons to a seemingly clear but rather an unseizable point – to a young woman called Klára. It is not love or any other kind of pure passion – just a burning desire for an illusion of escape from the grey cage and boredom. Antonín´s absurd effort to get Klára for himself not only turns him against traditional enemies of the regime but also against his own people and the system itself. But if Antonín breaks the rules of the organization in the service of which he is, it is not a civil or political gesture – it is a clearly personal and frantic revolt. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (10)
The film Walking Too Fast is not about the StB. That’s merely the main character’s starting point. Walking Too Fast combines two themes in the main character, namely the well-known burnout syndrome and the referenced inability to apply absolute power. Antonín has gained the maximum, but basically has nothing. He's made it to the top, but he's been climbing for so long that he's unable to remember what it looks like beneath him. So he fixates on the farthest possible goal so that he can keep going, but even that is approaching dangerously fast. I could have complained about the ever-scratchy post-synchronization work that Czech films suffer from terribly, I could have sputtered about the unnecessarily undynamic direction again, except for a few moments (the scene in the forest), but all that pales in comparison to moments that you simply won't see elsewhere.
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Right from the opening minutes (accompanied by the excellently chosen WWW), the viewer is struck by the raw atmosphere, which gives the impression that Walking Too Fast will definitely not be "just another Czech film", but that it intends to forge its own path (whether it will "arrest" or turn loose a larger number of viewers remains a question). Well chosen and photographed industrial sets, an imaginative combination of sound and visuals, and Ondřej Malý's performance – this is basically the best that Walking Too Fast has to offer, and it must be noted that compared to 95% of other Czech productions, it really is a diametric difference. The character of Antonín Rusnák typifies (at least at the beginning) the exemplary and fear-inducing STB agent, who then, due to stereotyping and loss of conviction, goes a little crazy and becomes even more dangerous to those around him. Even though the film is not perfect and has a few weak spots at times, I can't go below 90%, because it is really well made and acted by Czech standards (the convincing performances of the other underexposed actors are also pleasing). I'd be really surprised if Walking Too Fast gets surpassed by some other Czech film in 2010, but who knows. I'd like to believe that better times are on the horizon. :))
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One would expect a 2.5-hour film to have enough space to satisfy the viewer with a solid and meaningful finale with the stories of all (or at least most) of the characters wrapped up. Alas. In this regard, Walking Too Fast failed in its entirety. That’s a great pity, especially considering the performances that Špaček's film has (the great Ondřej Malý, the woefully, egregiously underused Oldřich Kaiser and others).
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Amazing. An industrial and creaking expedition to the Umakart swamp, where sheer resignation and hopelessness are cooked up. Everyone runs away on their own. Tomáš finds a mistress, Antonín decides to steal her from him. A mental cripple with a complex uses his position in the state apparatus and demonstrate that the greatest filth does not stem from the essence of ideology, but rather from the essence of man. Špaček's film has a) an excellent script, b) balanced directing, c) a magnificent sound component, d) Ondřej Malý, Martin Finger and other actors who act three levels above the average. If it was a bit shorter and more straightforward, I wouldn't be afraid of using really comforted superlatives. In any case, I will go so far as to say that Antonín is, in my view, a modern Kopfrkingl. And beating Walking Too Fast will be a lot of hard work this year.
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Through Štindl's magnificent script, precise and detailed production design (it brought back memories of the ticket punching machines in trams, etc.) and an inventive soundtrack, Špaček tells an interesting, weighty and well-crafted psychological portrait of a brooding bastard who plays at being a demigod from his position as member of the secret police. I consider the final meeting in the dissident's flat to be the best executed and acted scene in a Czech film last year. Ondřej Malý can already prepare a shelf for the Czech Lion.
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