Home Care

Another Czech take on dying of cancer, made special by only the remarkably subtle humor. (13.08.2015)

After my chat with Mihulová and Polívka, I was really sad that I didn’t get to see the movie at the movie festival in Karlovy Vary. Luckily, I made up for it, because the local theatre started screening it and so I wasted no time and decided to immediately go support the movie. And I have to say – it was worth it. Slávek Horák is an excellent director and he has connected one rather harsh human life story with his unique humor, which has beautifully softened the difficult circumstances of the characters in some of the tenser scenes. Bolek Polívka has delivered a decent acting performance that reminded me of his role in The Inheritance. What’s more, his wife played by Alena Mihulová is also named Vlasta. Now let us say some more about Alena Mihulová. Her acting performance was something absolutely extraordinary and beautiful. I’d really love to thank her personally one more time, because she’d deserve standing ovations from all of us for this role, just like she’d deserve to win some type of an award validating her qualities. She’s handled this incredibly difficult role in such a human way and her performance is more sober than anything I’ve seen in a Czech movie in a while. I can’t rate the heavy story but also the human side of it, including the humor itself, with less than the full five stars. Home Care is a beautiful movie that confirms the fact that Czech cinematography can have a very high quality. (25.07.2015)

Home cares has high its highs and lows. You don't expect anything from it, and it first excites you with the golden sixtieth solid aura of the new wave, then it turns in a completely different direction, it is packed with ambitions that are very close to being ridiculous self-parody, and finally the movie is saved by a really nice ending. Horák seems to have an undeniable talent as both a screenwriter and a director, but he would need a big stick in the form of an uncompromising playwright. (29.11.2015)

The supporting role with Tatiana Vilhelmová should have remained in the background and not inexplicably come to the forefront. Its transparency and, consequently, its lack of finality is what ultimately causes Home Care to fall through the cracks. It's a shame because the buzz was decent, Boleslav Polívka gives his first perfectly normal performance in years, and thanks to a topic that is close to my heart professionally, I was prepared to meet the film halfway wherever I could. (02.01.2017)

Flawless performances, especially the two leads, no doubt about it. But what would such quality performers be if they were not lucky enough to have an interesting subject and a director who could make the filming interesting as well? Except for the European "joke" with the frog underpass and the "joke" with the patient's conversion, it was very good - delicately sensitive and with a beautiful ending. (01.01.2017)

Home Care is particularly compelling for its simple yet powerful story about ordinary people who suddenly have to deal with the sudden intrusion of cruel fate into their lives. The film offers a look at two people who perhaps couldn't be more different, yet share a strong bond, even if it's not obvious at first glance. Each then deals with reality in their own way. Personally, I was only puzzled by the ending, which is ambiguous, but in a bad way, but I somehow can’t think of a more appropriate ending. All in all, an average film that benefits mainly from the premise, the degree of realism and the possibility of relating to the characters. (13.02.2016)

The cast was decent, but the film turned out to be disappointing for me. I was just watching someone slowly die for an hour and a half without any interest in the story whatsoever.  Plus, those esoteric cultists were quite annoying, and the whole film kind of bummed me out. Eventually, it dawned on me that all I had to do to ‘enjoy’ a similar experience, was to turn off the DVD player and immerse myself in my own ‘afterlife’. The problem is that I want a film to make me forget that and not the other way around. I'm not a fan of French cinema, but Intouchables was on a whole other level. (01.08.2016)

An interesting film about life and death, which contains emotions but actually is neither pessimistic nor optimistic. It is simply like life is and how we make it. Bolek Polívka has, perhaps, only one moment here where he shows that he is a good actor, otherwise he doesn't act much, whereas Alena Mihulová steals the film for herself. (17.05.2016)