Once Upon a Time in Paradise

Défi cinéma en situation de confinement – actrices préférées : Vic Kerekes. Je ne pense pas que ce soit mauvais au point de le descendre en dessous des cinquante pour cent, notamment en tenant compte du fait que c’est un sportif qui incarne le rôle principal. Ce dernier est d’ailleurs bien entouré avec la belle Vica et un Jan Budař qui, une fois de plus, joue les méchants. On pourrait mieux faire côté scénario, mais c’est correct dans l’ensemble. (06/08/2020)

The films associated with Josef Urban's name may be unbalanced, but Once Upon a Time in Paradise works much better than 7 Days of Sin. And that is a nice upward trend. There is no doubt that climbing was popular throughout Europe before the war, as Heinrich Harrer and Josef Škvorecký attest. The team around Urban has a soft spot for Vic Kerekes and she manages to handle more challenging roles year after year, which is great. It is also nice to see Ondřej Havelka in a period film of this kind, who has so much experience with the turn of the 30s and 40s that he is very authentic in civilian clothes and in his assigned role. And Budař, who has also matured and his Horst Gerke is not a parody of a Gestapo man, but a true embodiment of evil in sheep's clothing, also did very well. Rímský and Heinrich are also good in supporting roles. Everything else is based on a slow pace, engaging landscape shots and appropriate narration, the atmosphere builds according to the classic historical axis, initially defiance, then fear after the Heydrich assassination. I could criticize the naivety of it all, but it's still just a filmed novel. (25/04/2021)