Directed by:
Jan SvěrákScreenplay:
Jan SvěrákCinematography:
Vladimír SmutnýComposer:
Michal NovinskiCast:
Ondřej Vetchý, Tereza Ramba, Alois Grec, Jan Tříska, Viera Pavlíková, Oldřich Kaiser, Zuzana Stivínová, Hynek Čermák, Petra Špalková, Zdeněk Svěrák (more)Plots(1)
Eight-years-old Eda is a long-desired and anxiously protected child by parents who had lost one baby before. Now Eda became backup child; he even has the same name. After his father rejects to affiliate with Nazi invadors of Czechoslovakia in 1939, the family is forced to leave Prague and spend war times living with relatives in the countryside. Little town where Eda used to spend short holiday only, becomes his home for a while. The war provides mysterious adventures to Eda whose childish eyes can not percieve danger of difficult times. For him life feels strange but beautiful now – city boy lives in a tiny town, joins local boyish crew to spend days walking barefoot, notices beauty of girls for the first time and discovers both deep family secrets and his own bravery. Barefoot is lyrical feature film about childhood and heroism of ourselves. Chronologicaly and thematicaly, the film is the first episode of a tetralogy of movies Elementary School (1991), Kolya (1996) and Empties (2007) that were created and produced by family duo Jan Sverak and Zdenek Sverak. (Bioscop)
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Reviews (10)
You know that you are watching a very well done film from the 2nd WW period, but at the same time you feel that there is basically no story. And I would be ok with that if only the character played by Oldřich Kaiser (who is getting better with every role) wasn’t made the most interesting one and basically holds the whole story together but then it is killed off in the most disgusting manner towards the end of the film. And this end was my biggest Czech movie disappointment in a very long time.
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Filming is something Jan Svěrák hasn't forgotten how to do, but creating picturesque images and working with a retro atmosphere alone is not enough for a fulfilling cinematic experience. You also need a functional screenplay. I don't know why Jan didn't utilize his father's abilities, who is one of the best screenwriters of the last decades. Barefoot does not work, and when I use this term, I really mean it doesn't work from a dramaturgical standpoint. Even though Jan Svěrák fills his film with plenty of stuff, in the end, it is incredibly empty. You don't just need memories, you have to piece them together properly. This film is helped to a considerable extent by sentiment, but I won't assist it in that, as there are plenty of others who can. Overall impression: 45%. I can't help but have a reservation about Oldřich Kaiser's casting. Even though there is not a big age difference between Vetchý and Kaiser, the years when Kaiser was drinking heavily have unfortunately taken their toll on him, so he could actually play Vetchý's father. By the way, both he and Ondřej Vetchý are slightly too old for Tereza Voříšková and their little son... The scene by the pond, where Voříšková and Kaiser exchange a long, emotionally charged gaze, and in which it is evident that the director wants to evoke in the viewer the impression of either a platonic or fulfilled past relationship, brings to mind associations with pedophilia more than anything else.
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I wanted to like it so badly. I was ready to enjoy the expected heartwarming drama and vise-like kindness, but unfortunately I got a film where that is completely absent. In fact, there's almost nothing there. It looks nice, and as far as the production design and costumes goes, I can't fault Barefoot at all, but in all other respects it's wretched. And a mess. The film goes from nowhere to nowhere, and although it is framed by a period and bites into some interesting conflicts, eighty percent of the running time is ultimately completely useless. Trying to cram in as many "flashbacks" as possible results in there being no time for anything and because of that, the humor doesn't work, the drama doesn't work, and the poignancy doesn't work. Most of the time I felt like someone had dropped two minutes of a scene that should have been fifteen minutes long, and I have little idea why I should be watching the boys tackle a classmate, that Eda might get a slap on the wrist, that the dad is at odds with his brother, and that a pigeon has gone missing. There's never time to pay attention to anything properly and the result is such a nice looking film where there's an awful lot going on, but for most of it you'll probably ask yourself why you don't really care about any of it. Too bad.
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If you are a fan of Svěrák, you’ll survive Barefoot unscathed and even with a pleasant smile. It’s a cute, poetic view of the world through the eyes of a child that is too cute and too loosely poetic – the story lacks a core conflict that would help give shape to the characters and the pleasant episodes of life are supported by several sub-plots, but lack a solid frame and give the impression that they could last another hour. Other than Eda, the character with the most interesting story is Kaiser’s Wolf, the rest have a more or less subordinate position and guide the protagonist through a world driven mainly by family values and the beauty and pitfalls of boyhood, with the war taking a secondary role. It’s not a bad film, it has solid direction and several nicely delivered humour motifs, but the result is too shoddy and inconsistent. 65%
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I was expecting to laugh a bit more, but the mood of the film was rather melancholy. I was okay with that as soon as I realized that this wasn't going to be one of Svěrák’s typical comedies, and I quite enjoyed the film. I really liked the atmosphere of rural idyll spiced up with war events. What I loved were the performances of Oldřich Kaiser and Tereza Voříšková and the film’s subtle humor. It was an incredibly relaxing and feel-good film.
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