The Great Nothing

The film I had been waiting for since the Nošovice infestation. The Big Nothing is a focused, insightful observational documentary in which the directors don’t elbow their way in front of the camera, needlessly manipulate or artificially stage problems, but instead look for the strange logic of a time when the traditional chain of cause and effect ceased to apply. The film contains empathy and understanding, subtle irony and an attempt to identify the ways in which COVID-19 changed everything and, conversely, the ways in which it changed nothing. I have minor reservations with respect to the the dramaturgy, as the film could perhaps have been a few minutes shorter and could have relied less on the opera/masks at the end (which is a predictable step), but it kept me on my guard the whole time and strongly evoked a sense of the timelessness and disjointedness of existence. Furthermore, I appreciate the fact that Peterková is not another Daliborek. The Big Nothing is indisputably a candidate for Czech film of the year. All power to Vachek! (13.03.2023)