The Phenom

Ethan Hawke is such a great actor and yet he pushes his way into every stupid movie. The Phenom is a film that completely lacks meaning for the Czech audience, but if you like Ethan, you will admit that the film not only stands on him, but without him, for the lack of understanding the environment, you would send it to the filmmaking hell, at least. (31/03/2017)

Ethan Hawke has been hanging in my memory as a top performer in Richard Linklater's Boyhood, a kind-hearted rascal and the father of the main character all in one. It was precisely because of such a mature role that I was eager to reach for the overlooked story of a young baseball player – and I was left sitting frozen. While the sports background went completely over my head, every scene in which Hawke appears and starts terrorizing his son more and more forcefully with each next sentence is a demonstration of his acting chameleonism. It's nice that Hawke helps unknown films gain attention with his participation, but in similarly small, intimate films, he is quite wasted. If only The Phenom itself had aimed for higher ambitions and hadn't let the second half quietly slip away apart from the last few minutes, there could have been much more success to celebrate. (11/09/2016)