Lost in Munich

It’s truly incredible how Zelenka manages to adapt diverse narrative formulas in favour of a unified idea and an irresistibly satirical characterization of the unchanging Czech mood. The "film-within-a-film" technique allows him to poetically outline the intended plot motifs, which he then humorously develops in a frank, semi-documentary spirit in the fictional process of filming. What's amazing is the ease with which the fictional world mirrors the real one, with all the political, ethical, financial or deliberately absurd problems in the cycle of filmmaking, this time juxtaposed with smart historical satire and more or less obvious winks at the nature of Czechness. Fine actors, brilliant cinematography, great direction. Day for Night for Czech filmmakers. 85% (17/05/2016)

An extremely original film. Funny, playful, sophisticated, thought-provoking, perfectly filmed... Moreover, it will delight all die-hard admirers of Edvard Beneš, of which I am one. The less you know in advance about the plot of Lost in Munich, the better. The first twist is really SO unexpected that I would hate to be deprived of it beforehand. Petr Zelenka plays beautifully with the viewer, but his aim is not to mischievously trick him. No, on the contrary, he rewards the viewer with a pleasant feeling of "I thought there was something not quite... But I really wouldn't have thought of that, bravo!" In short, after some time, the Czech Republic has once again produced a film that I don't want and can't fault at all. (03/11/2015)

In the first half hour, Zelenka gets this not-very-successful bitter comedy about a media bubble around a talking parrot going, in order to later have the upper hand against the audience by implying that the films lack quality had been intentional the entire time, and for good reason. Lost in Munich is a perfectly balanced (very funny and at the same time sad and painfully true) parable about backstage of film productions, about the Czech nation, and about the fact that appearances sometimes deceive, of course with a certain amount of exaggeration. The film is directed with a firm hand and is a thoughtful and conscious project with natural actors, the ambitiously and intelligently-grasped theme of the Munich Agreement, and with a functional story full of surprising twists. In terms of Czech films, this story is also told in a rather unusual and attractive way. (16/10/2015)

Petr Zelenka is very specific and a very good author. This isn't just playing with history; this is playing with film, playing with the audience who isn't sure what they're actually watching. And you won't experience this twist just once, but rather several times. Despite the form, the idea here doesn't get lost, which is very intriguing and one that I could easily believe in. And all of this with a peculiar sense of humor. (10/02/2017)

A film about why something doesn't work, which thematizes that we actually do our best work when we pretend that we are not good at it, and during this it is so perfectly buck-passing and artificial that it resembles a parrot who just repeats what others tell him. A potentially interesting concept walled up by inconsistency. While the Year of the Devil was quite an interesting "mocumentary", the second half of Lost in Munich feels like a very lame defense of why the former doesn't make sense. And since Zelenka alternates between documentary shots with purely film footage and continuously flat music, the result of the defense is as sparse as the acted part. Meta-weaklings from the nineties. A mental ghetto of an eternal revision of a national stereotype that affirms itself with love and that is why it survives, even if someone seems to parody it. Long overdue and still boring as fuck. Let’s turn the page. (24/04/2017)