Off to the sea!
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Off to the sea! (See the sea) |
| Original title | Pojedeme k moři |
| Country of production | Czech Republic |
| original language | Czech |
| Publishing year | 2014 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jiří Mádl |
| script | Jiří Mádl |
| production | Miloslav Šmídmajer |
| music | René Rypar |
| camera | Edita Kainrathová |
| cut | Jakub Vansa |
| occupation | |
| |
Off to the sea! (Original title: Pojedeme k moři ; German Alternative title: Seeing the sea ) is a Czech comedy - drama from the year 2014 . Under the direction of Jiří Mádl , the young actor Petr Šimčák can be seen in the leading role of the young Tomáš.
action
After Tomáš received the video camera he had longed for on his eleventh birthday, his great desire to pursue the career path of a filmmaker solidified; his great role model is the film director Miloš Forman . He begins to take in his family in almost every situation, as well as his friends and Stáňa, his first great love. Another dearest wish from Tomáš 'is to be able to go on vacation by the sea, preferably with his Croatian friend Haris.
Since the boy can't really get an idea of what his father is up to because he works from home, he hides his camera in his office, so he finds out that the father works for a certain amount on Tuesdays and Thursdays Time to leave the house. When Tomáš asks him about it, the father doesn't want to know about it. This arouses the boy's curiosity so that he wants to find out why his father reacts in this way, although he is also driven by the fear that the father will meet another woman. With his camera he goes on a search for clues to discover the secret of his father.
When Haris asks Tomáš to let him have his camera at short notice, he agrees. When the boyfriend shows him how things are often at home and sadly tells him that his father is very violent and, above all, that his mother is even beating, which he and his brother would suffer a lot from, the children make a decision together to change this unbearable situation.
But also the secret of the father becomes clear, he has the dream that Tomáš will become a regular player in the local football club and later perhaps one day a famous football player. He himself uses his regular training hours , which is also the reason that he regularly secretly leaves his computer workstation in the family apartment for a few hours.
background
Director Jiří Mádl, who also wrote a screenplay here for the first time, was best known in the Czech Republic as an actor who, for example , had been honored as best actor for his performance in the film drama The Children of the Night (2008) at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival . The film, shot with a hand-held camera, is told from the point of view of eleven-year-old Tomáš, which means that one perceives the events through the eyes of a child.
reception
publication
The film, which is Jiří Mádl's directorial debut, opened in Czech cinemas on April 10, 2016, after having premiered on March 23, 2014 at the Febio Film Festival. It was also presented on April 29, 2014 at the Pilsen Film Festival. In Germany, the film, which was subtitled Two Friends, a Secret , was shown for the first time on July 1, 2014 at the Munich International Film Festival before it was released on August 11, 2016.
The film was also released in Slovakia, Israel (during the Czech Film Week), Switzerland (at the Zurich Film Festival ), Macedonia (at the Cinedays Film Festival), in Canada (at the Montreal World Film Festival and the European Union Film Festival), in Hong Kong (at the European Union Film Festival), in the USA under the international title To See the Sea (at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, as well as in Washington and the Czech Center in New York) and in Japan ( during the EU Film Days),
criticism
The film received mostly positive reviews alongside average ones. Filmverleih Stuttgart advertised Ab ans Meer with the words: “A film about filmmaking. The small big world from the eyes of two eleven-year-olds: original, funny, surprising. "
“After the slightly too harmless beginning (comes) after ten minutes, the story, told with form awareness, wit and pleasant self-irony, which adorns itself with a little film history as an extra bonus for adults [...] The message in the end is of course positive, educational valuable and suitable for children. It's just a shame that the stereotypical gender roles also correspond to the view of an eleven-year-old. "
“The debut director Jiří Mádl has succeeded in making an authentic children's film that takes the joys, worries and needs of its young protagonists seriously. However, the exciting and formally varied story keeps fraying. A little less topics would have been more here. "
Ralf Schenk from film-dienst , Bonn, certified that the film was "free from childish fuss or raised pedagogical index finger [to open the world of experience of its sensitive main character] and [to allow] different emotional states". The result was a film “about happiness and sadness, doubt and hope. An encouragement not only for eleven year olds, but for the whole family. "
Julius Heinrichs from the Tagesspiegel was of the opinion that Aban's sea was telling many little stories. [...] “The constant presence of the 'self-held' camera only irritates at the beginning. Soon she [will] convince Thomas' spontaneous digital diary ”[…] The film has“ no punch line, no finale with perpetrators; he shows life as it is. In a creative and touching way ”.
José García from the online portal Textezumfilm.de said : “The trick of making the film look as if the eleven-year - olds had operated the camera themselves and then edited the footage on the secret computer is a real novelty in children's films. It not only conveys an extraordinary immediacy, but also suits a generation that grew up with the new media, the so-called 'digital natives' "
The film magazine Cinema spoke of a Czech children's film that was “staged with playful ease”, but also dared to “tackle serious issues such as domestic violence”.
Michael Meyns from Programmkino.de also came up with the topic of domestic violence, which is just as much an issue as a child's fear of a separation between parents, which makes the "worth seeing directorial debut [by Jiří Mádl] an amazing substance, especially for a children's film" lend.
In the KinderKinoWelt one could read: "A film told with great honesty: Tomás films his life and brings about all sorts of changes"
Awards (selection)
- Winner of the children's film competition at the Final Cut film festival in Marburg in the category "Best Children's Film"
- Special prize of the international jury for “the best film for a children's audience” at the Pilsen Film Festival
- Award from the city of Zlín for Petr Šimčák in the "Best Actor" category
- Awarded the “Zlatý dudek” for Petr Šimčák as the best child actor and award as the best film up to the age of 12 as well as the “Křišťálový šaton” from the children's jury at the 46th Festival of Ota Hofman in Ostrov nad Ohří
- Gorky Prize for best family film at the Voices in Vologda in Russia
- Main prize in the "Buzzy & Teen" category at the IFF Motovun in Croatia
- Main prize in the “Kid's Eyes” category at the 16th Seoul Int'l Youth Film Festival in Korea
- Award to Jiří Mádl for the script as well as the special prize “Best Film 11–13 Years” at the MFF Juniorfest in the Czech Republic
- Grand Prize, Children's Jury Prize, and Prize for Special Contribution to the Film at the Montreal International Children's Film Festival in Canada
- Prize winners of the children's jury at the 23rd International Children's Cinema Festival (KiKiFe)
- The German Film and Media Assessment (FBW) awarded the film the title “Particularly valuable” and justified it as follows: “ Off to the sea is an original and lovingly made children's and youth film that tells its story in the best Czech tradition. A nice little film discovery. "
Web links
- Off to the sea! in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Off to the sea! in the Czech-Slovak film database (Czech)
- Off to the sea! at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Pojedeme k moři onYouTubeTrailer for the film in the original language
- Pojedeme k moři original film poster in the IMDb
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Silvia Hallensleben: Review of Off to the Sea! epd-film.de, July 27, 2016, accessed on August 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Off to the sea! adS abansmeer.com (with German dubbed trailer)
- ↑ Ab ans Meer at filmernst.de, accessed on May 8, 2017.
- ↑ Falk Straub: Review: Off to the sea! spielfilm.de, accessed on August 8, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g Off to the sea! Reviews adS der-filmverleih.de, accessed on May 8, 2017.
- ↑ Off to the sea! ( Memento from August 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Awards at film festivals at abansmeer.com/Pressemappe
- ↑ Off to the sea! at kino.de, accessed on May 8, 2017.