The Modrava Police and the Hamburg Police were already here, now the Hvar Police are coming. The creators of the series, the first episode of which was watched by almost a million viewers on Nova on Sunday, had a divine goal. To demonstrate that Czech-Slovak relations are still alive. And they obviously live. But above all thanks to Jakub Štáfek in the lead role, otherwise Hvar doesn’t yet know what it wants to be in terms of genre.
Alžběta Ferencová and Jakub Štáfek from the Hvar Police series. | Photo: Profimedia
At the beginning of the series Police Hvar was a noble idea to refresh the cooperation between Czech and Slovak creators, which will be linked by the popular summer destination of the peoples of both countries: Croatia.
The location shot was good, but the creators are a bit off with the way of storytelling. The very exposition of the main characters causes embarrassment – is it a parody, crazy, or a run-of-the-mill detective story? The main duo meet for the first time on board a ship. Michal accidentally hits Ivana with a suitor thrown into the distance, earning her antipathy, then they fight over the same cabin, after which they jump on each other in sexual desire. Everything ends at the police station, where they both come to report for duty…
Source: Youtube
Neither fish nor crayfish
The very idea of combining comedy with crime is debatable. It didn’t necessarily have to be bad, in French crime fiction there are also jokes and ironic remarks, but the story is still told with appropriate tension. Of course, the same cannot be said about the Hvar Police, where a lot is tied up.
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It’s as if the authors of the series can’t agree on what and especially how they want to tell the audience. Their team includes several names (among others, Tereza Dusová, who also signed some of the works of the prized Terapie, David Musil and Tomáš Grombíř, who took part, for example, in the Blue Code series) and it is difficult to say according to which key they actually wrote the works. Probably the biggest fault, at least of the first parts (the second one was already seen in advance on Voyo), is the minimal work with building tension on the one hand and incomplete funny points on the other. On detective not much, for a parody as well. It’s certainly not a dense genre mix along the lines of Korean hits.
Štáfek and Croatia score
Perhaps also because the storytelling worlds of both directors – Tomáš Pavlíček (current co-winner Czech Film Critic’s Award for the film Príšla v noci) and Kryštof Hanzlík – they can hardly meet. While the former can skillfully balance on the edge of comedy and serious statement (Chata na prodej), Hanzlík was inclined towards dark stories (The Last Move) and recently he has been mainly in the area of undemanding sitcoms.
Fortunately, the creators have two big trump cards. Scenery of the picturesque Hvarwhich in some places even acts as an advertisement, and Jakub Štáfek. An actor who started out in amateur theater and who attracted attention first as Jordán in The Street and then as Julius Lavický in the football comedies Vyšehrad: Seryjál and Vyšehrad: Fylm. There is no doubt about his comedic talent, although he often becomes an unguided missile. In the case of the Hvar Police, he probably had to tame himself a bit, but he’s still fun to watch. After all, the creators certainly didn’t make him a detective because he seems irresistible and charismatic. In an investigative pair with Slovakian Alžběta Ferencová (she shone in Hřebejkov Iveta series) he’s the one who plays, at least for now, the slower nerd.
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The rest of the cast is unbalanced. Young Tomas Sean Pšenička does well as a police trainee, Peter Nádasdi unnecessarily exaggerates, Xindl X he equipped the series with songs and plays the guitar well (as he showed in the first episode at the police station), but acting is quite weak.
A game without borders
We’ll see where the series goes next. The crimes, including the initial murder, seem rather laughable to the point of embarrassment, but the viewers at the screens probably won’t mind. “Criminal plot about nothing, but Štáfek-Ferencová match”, “Super relaxation series”, “Štáfek did not disappoint”, “My beloved Croatia!” – responses on social networks speak clearly.
If this ambition is enough for the creators, so be it. However, Hvar Police is still a long way from becoming a functioning and brisk genre film – no matter which side it takes. More than anything else, it resembles what the characters played in the first part: a game without borders.
Rating of the Journal: 60 percent
2024-02-07 16:23:41
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