Polednice (2016) Reviews

• Noonday Itch

  Shadowplayed2016-09-16

  Let it be said right off the bat: not daring enough to be called horror. Folklore elements that give us taste of what could have been do give this drama a certain flavor, but it did get cold feet in the final act that could have redeemed the slow build-up. Beautifully shot, the amount of golden light that, in my experience, could only be challenged by The Reflecting Skin, the film certainly holds that dark grief that characters carry around deep down. Largely psychological, Polednice takes sweet time portraying the village community mother and daughter got to be a part of, and only briefly plays with a prospect of supernatural. It is, sadly, never fully exploited although the opportunities were many. Instead, it builds suspense just to go nowhere with it. A shame, with such potent setting, cinematography and cast this film needed just that one step to be truly memorable genre piece. Instead, it just left dangling in the midair...I was left itching for more.

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• She takes and don't give back

  nogodnomasters2017-10-17

  Eliska (Anna Geislerová) and her daughter Anetka (Karolína Lipowská) move to her husband's village after he dies. The rural house needs repair and there is a drought and a story about the Noonday Witch which causes the drought and will take a child and not give it back. And everyone knows her husband is dead except the daughter Anetka as mom lies to protect her. Old woman causes issues. Men all like Eliska. And an eclipse is coming as mom reads a story about the moon and sun. The film is billed as a "horror" without any real horror, just a scary woman from time to time. You kept waiting for the witch to come all film long which caused it to become boring. The filming and acting appeared to be well done, it just didn't appeal to me. English subtitles. Guide: 1 F-word or so. No sex or nudity.

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• the horror movie that could have been

  dromasca2016-09-02

  I know that it's some kind of an unfair comparison, but so it happens that I have seen Jiri Sádek's The Noonday Witch (the original name is Polednice - Midday) at the Czech film festival, and then Pedro Almodóvar's Julieta in an interval of less than 24 hours. What do the two films - one the debut long feature of a young Czech director, the other the latest production of one of the best-known contemporary directors - in common? Well, there is actually a central theme to both - mother-daughter relationships as their are hit by the tragedy of the disappearing of the father but also mostly by the lack or incapacity of communication of the two principal characters. While there cannot be any doubt about which film is better (I liked immensely Almodovar's film, one of the best I have seen in recent years) there are enough interesting elements also in The Noonday Witch which make it worth a look. The story is one of falling into madness. A mother and her daughter return to the village were Thomas, the disappeared father and husband has grown up and lived. It's a drought period and nature is threatening (similar background with the one in Schmitke, another Czech production that I have seen a few days ago, but in a different manner and palette), the small rural community have to face not only nature but also the presumed presence of magical forces around. This meddling of threatening nature and magic seems to be a recurring theme in the Czech cinema, as is the incapacity of the community to face threats through rational means, and overall their failure to communicate and get together. Lack of communication and the rebellion of the daughter against the mother who tried to protect her by hiding the truth is the source of the crisis and of the sliding into insanity of the mother. Until now we have quite a parallel track with the story in Julieta. From here on it's an execution problem, and the path that was chosen without too much effect is trying to build a magic thriller story. Maybe the problem is with the director having seen too many horror movies of the kind inspired by Stephen King's novels and short stories. He tries here (and on us viewers) all kind of old tricks and relies less on the assets at hand - the team of actors and especially the kids and the wonderful Anna Geislerová. Instead trusting her and her colleagues the director recycled all kind of 'classical' horror editing (flash images doubled by strong sound impact) and makeup (blind eyes) effects. The result is a very average horror movie, as not too much happens for the second half of the film. With some more daring and less cinematographic quotes this could have been a much better film.

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• HBO Europe falls flat

  jessicafischerqueen2016-08-24

  I was very disappointed by the recent HBO Europe release of the Czech horror Polednice (The Noonday Witch): HBO has produced some fine films, so I was excited to see this "Europa" HBO production. Alas, despite having the budget to hire some good actors, such as Anna Geislerová, Polednice falls flat. The acting is quite good, and the cinematography is superb, but the screenplay, direction, and soundtrack make watching this film a lugubrious experience. I caught myself falling asleep on numerous occasions. Put simply, it's boring. The "Hallmark card" soundtrack, in which sickening strings remind of us when to recognize the "poignant" moments, is irritating and works against this film's pretensions to be a horror movie. The execution of what sounds like an interesting story is uninteresting, and the direction lacks energy. I lacked energy after forcing myself to finish watching this film. 5/10, at best.

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• at the middle of way

  Kirpianuscus2018-11-18

  A beautiful cinematography. Good performances. Seductive potential. No real story. A mother and her daughter in a village. A new beginning. Large slices of folklore. And something is lost in the effort to suggest more than show. A film about the circle of fear but it is just a large puzzle, with too different pieces, who could be only imagined as final picture but not made. Something remains in the sketch status. You have all the elements of story but the plot itself is missing. A film at the middle of way, without any direction. Beautiful, interesting, giving the flavor of old Central European myths and legends. But, unfortunately,nothing more.

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