Photographer

This is a dramaturgically muddled mess, and a hundred and thirty-minute hell that starts to put a coherent plot together only in the last third, cheating the viewer with decoys of boobs, butts, and swear words. It more so resembles a set of funny sketches from Saudek's life. The comparison with Bad Joke is only avoided by the fact that Roden surprisingly civilly handles the role that clearly doesn't suit him and mostly without overacting. Another aspect is that Marie Málková gives a brilliant performance because watching the gradually creeping evil in her eyes is sheer pleasure. However, it is thwarted by the director's concept, which plays on the first signal of folk humor and drives the tragicomic character of its protagonist in the opposite direction than he deserves, which, assuming that this is a technically well-crafted job (camera, sound, editing), will drag the laughing audience into the movie theaters and the film into the black. (08.01.2015)

Photographer is a great movie, but I think there is one pretty significant issue with it. There is basically no story at all. I’ve seen the almost three-hour version and almost nothing significant happened there. Luckily, Karel Roden created such a great, artistically predisposed character, that it overshadowed almost everything. However, in the second half of the movie the failing became really obvious and once a so-so story started unraveling, it was already a bit late. Anyway, the portrayal of an interesting character with a great camera, excellent acting performances and perfect atmosphere is truly impressive. I believe it is one of the most technically distinctive movies in the Czech Republic. By the way, it was interesting to watch how they gave Sára Saudková a really hard time with this movie. Even better when I saw Jan Saudek’s first entry in the movie through which he decided to tell his story and tactically stated that for most of the time he would be fabricating. This way he managed to prevent anyone from successfully suing his movie. (11.05.2015)

The Pavlásková-Saudek connection is simply brilliant. Pavlásková has always been original and unique and I personally adore all her films, starting with Time of the Servants. There is great work with truth, work with actors, polished points, and incredible humor. There is no fear, no tabloid, and no false fetishization. Just the story Saudek needed to tell and Irena became his Geppetto. Roden also blossoms under Irena's direction, Vilma Cibulková is perfect in her etude, and Jitka Sedláčková with her beaver. Finally, enough has been done for the charms of Marika Procházková. And Máša Málková is also finally making her way out of the Prague City theaters and onto the big screen after her last significant supporting role in The Don Juans. I'm very satisfied with it. (30.01.2015)

Intended for Czech viewers of toilet-humor comedies like Kameňák, Photographer depicts the life of a world-class Czech photographer portrayed by an almost world-class Czech actor. It is cheap trash with a terrifyingly long runtime. What I don’t get is that Jan Saudek doesn’t mind that this thing will be watched by his admirers around the world, from Argentina to Australia. One star for Karel Roden, who is obviously enjoying himself. (08.01.2015)

No matter how much truth is in that movie, it is still an incredibly interesting insight into how a person can also "function". Karel Roden is absolutely perfect in his role, the film is both a comedy and a drama, often in the same scene. I didn't expect to like it, but this was really good. (13.04.2016)