Clownwise (2013)

Clownwise: Directed by Viktor Taus. With Didier Flamand, Oldrich Kaiser, Jirí Lábus, Kati Outinen. At the beginning of their careers Oskar, Max and Viktor created a superstar clown trio called The Busters. Their clownery personified little islands of freedom in the midst of a motionless swamp of resignation during the communist regime of the former Czechoslovakia. An explosive disagreement, however, led to the three clowns breaking up. As it turns out, the clowns, beloved by the nation, can’t stand each other. Now, after thirty years in exile, Oskar (Didier Flamand) returns to end his artistic career in Prague. The meeting with his former friends leads to an unavoidable confrontation with now morbidly obese Viktor (Jirí Lábus) and terminally ill Max (Oldrich Kaiser). Even after all this time the question remains the same: who will have the last laugh?

“I bumped into this movie on one of our cable programs, I started watching cause I lived in Prague for a year and started learning the language there. But the movie proved to be universally good, regardless of the place and language.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn short, it is a story about getting old, about friendship, and about passion. You know, the things pertaining to any of us.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eActors are brilliant (I somewhat disliked the dubbing stuff with the French (?) actors), although I knew none of them before. Photography is on par with any Hollywood big-production material, and direction is pretty good. The script is convincing. The only complaint I have is that at moments I felt the story dragging along and meandering too much, dedicating much time to peripheral characters (Oskaru0026#39;s daughter singing etc). The movie could have been a bit shorter, in that matter.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHowever, the movie fulfills, the ending is satisfying and emotional. Iu0026#39;m glad Czech still makes great movies, itu0026#39;s a pity that they are rarely aired, compared to the usual Hollywood crap.”