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Princezna Zakletá v Case
Princess Cursed in Time
Princess Lost in Time
Czech Republic 2020
produced by Viktor Kristof (executive), Petr Kubik (executive), Vladimír Mráz (executive) for Three Brothers Production, QQ Studio Ostrava
directed by Petr Kubik
starring Natalia Germani, Marek Lambora, Eliska Krenková, Jan Révai, Simona Zmrzlá, Veronika Freimanová, Roman Zach, Martin Písarík, Jakub Ouvin, Martin Dejdar, Vladimír Polák, Pius Okaba, Magdaléna Malinová, Roman Doubrava, Viktor Kristof, Nikol Mertlová, Igor Kristof, Pavel Richta, Elizabeth Drobotová, Anezka Prikrylová, Terezie Holá, Michal Skach, Milan Hroch
written by Petr KubikLukás Parík, Viktor Kristof, music by Lukás Parík, visual effects supervisor: Lukás Najbrt
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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It really starts out like every other fairy tale, doom will come over
the kingdom of King Robert VIII (Jan Révai) by the hands of evil
sorceress Murien (Simona Zmrzlá) if his daughter Ellen (Natalia Germani)
hasn't found true love on her 20th birthday. So the king sends out for
suitors from all over the realm, but only one responds, Prince John (Marek
Lambora) - who might just do the trick because he and Ellen had been
childhood besties. But a lot of water has run down the river, and even if
they're married on Ellen's birthday and dutifully lock lips, there's
little love left between them and a black storm destroys the kingdom ...
and the next morning Ellen wakes up in her bed again, only it's the same
day again, her 20th birthday/wedding, and everything, including the black
storm, happens just like the day before, with the only difference that
she's in the know - and of course, she wakes up to the same day again -
and again - and again ... Now it doesn't take a genius to find out that
it takes more than a kiss to prove you're in love, and Ellen's actually a
pretty smart woman, so she decides to try to make herself fall in love
with Prince John - which is harder than imagined, as the two have drifted
apart considerably since childhood. In fact it's so hard that Ellen goes
for a different strategy, and upon advice of her father's alchemist
Archibald (Roman Zach), she decides to take the fight to Murien,
accompanied only by Prince John and her best friend, alchemist-in-training
Amelia (Eliska Krenková). But they have to fight her at her own turf, her
castle which it is almost impossible to get into even, and even once
they're successful, it's not that Amelia hasn't expected them and set up
defenses. And also, Ellen will not wake up on the same day indefinitely,
and her "expiration date" is already looming on the horizon
should she not be able to save the day soon ... One surface one
might very easily call this the Brothers Grimm doing Groundhog Day,
as the initial set-up could be any number of stories of the former, and I
don't even have to suggest where the endless repetition of the basic story
comes from. And to a point, this is already a very apt description of this
movie - but only to a point, as once the basic concept is established
(within ten minutes or so), the film takes a slow turn towards dark
fantasy, in the process doing much character work it has (intentionally)
neglected earlier on, and giving the audience a very rounded out
adventure. And even if it's very obvious there'll be a happy ending for
this (and that's not even a spoiler), it's very interesting how the film
gets there, and how the story twists and turns within its self-imposed
narrative ramifications. And above all that, the Czech locations alone are
already sights to behold. And all of this makes this a very nice piece of
fantasy cinema indeed.
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