Bear with Us

This is more than a good Czech film in quite a while... And on top of that, it's a comedy! Though cynical in the spirit of the trilogy about the Homolka family, it’s still a comedy. It balances great on that humorous-bitter edge and is full of real-feeling dialogues and beautiful scenes in different ways. All this with excellent acting (the characters are not caricatures, David Vávra and Ivana Chýlková are a great couple, poisonous Jana Synková uses her yelling to the maximum and Tereza Voříšková is cute even in a bear costume, including the fitted head) and with careful, intimate directing. The film is dedicated to “our" Honza Kastner and I believe he would like it, because he's simply not stupid. (02/04/2019)

A gentle cottage ballad that alternates moments of sharp observation and strenuous deadpan comedy clichés. The points are sometimes lost, but Aleš Březina's music is so playful and enticingly instructive, that when Kačer sits down, one realizes that Bear with Us can touch upon the sentiment of the family and cottage life and the tragicomic aspects of mundaneness. Solidly acted, nicely filmed and simply pleasant - like roasting a marshmallow and eating a few skittles. I’ll take it. (26/07/2018)

Bear with Us is exactly the kind of film that critics would ideally imagine a Czech film to be. It is a tangible reminder of the 60s, and Jan Kačer even plays a symbolic role. The topic is about typical Czech wallowing in smallness and praising the phenomenon of the cottage industry. We don't know what we want, but we know exactly what we don't want. The individual episodes will surely soon go down in the golden fund. Synková's snide remarks, the now very popular Kopta jokes... the talents of people like Chýlková, Vávra or Bárdos are wasted here. The story flows, cycles, falls apart and finds itself again. It’s the ideal material for tracking during your own trip outdoors. (26/07/2019)

The result was definitely better than I expected. This is not to say it was amazing, just not the standard pathetic Czech comedy I was mentally preparing myself for. It was even entertaining at times. David Vávra was perfectly matter of fact, and Jana Synková was excellent at nagging. Shame about a couple of dull moments and the slightly wasted potential of the premise. I think the film could do with a greater dose of humor. (07/01/2019)

Bear with Us is an intimately conceived drama that deals mainly with interpersonal relationships, both family and partner. The problems of the family members come to the surface and they deal with them in different ways. Paradoxically, the most rational character was the senile and absent-minded grandfather, brilliantly portrayed by Jan Kačer. I was also impressed by the characters of Michael Pitthan and Jana Synková, who were fortunately not as annoying as Tereza Voříšková, Judit Bárdos and Jan Strejcovský. It's a bit of a shame that the film didn't go deeper, but rather glided gently beneath the surface. In the end, this is a minimalist attempt at family drama that works at times, but rather flounders at others. (13/01/2019)