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It was a strange feeling when, six years ago, the cultural columns of renowned foreign media began to sing the praises of the Czech writer Jaroslav Kalfara’s novel Kosmonaut z Cech. In the author’s native country, no one had heard of the book at the time, as it was originally published in English. At the age of 15, Kalfař moved to the USA with his mother, where he graduated from New York University and at the age of 28 released his debut, which the world media enthusiastically compared with the work of Jonathan Safran Foer, but also with the most famous names from the Czech Republic – from Kundera to Čapek.

“It’s Solaris full of laughs, history lessons and killers,” the British daily praised the book The Guardian. A cosmonaut from the Czech Republic told about the fate of Jakub Procházka, who in 2018 will be launched on an extraordinary journey into space by a rocket starting from a potato field not far from Prague.

The purpose of the walk is to investigate a mysterious pinkish cloud that has appeared in the sky and has been scaring the entire planet for a few months. Kalfař uses the opening mystery as an opportunity to trigger crazy ideas about what it would be like if the land of bottlers, tatra girls and famous heretics (the space shuttle is named Jan Hus 1) had its own successful space program.

When Jakub Procházka finds himself in the middle of deep nothingness, the novel turns into a philosophical reflection on the questions of life and the universe in general. A cosmonaut meets the alien spider Hanuš near a space cloud. They discuss loneliness, the unhappy love of Jakub and his wife Lenka, and the beginning and end of everything.

No matter how enticing Kosmonaut z Čech sounded at the time of its creation, either because of its world renown, or because of its domestically unexpected plot, Kalfař’s novel faded into obscurity in our country. It turned out that the young author’s attempts to reflect on the post-revolutionary development in the Czech Republic are superficial and that instead of a deep reflection on the meaning of the world and existence, Kosmonaut only offers sentimental fluff. Kalfara’s novel lacked authenticity or an element of surprise. It looked like it came from a paid creative writing course for business people.

After Cosmonaut from the Czech Republic, we were left with an awkward silence. It is also awaiting its film adaptation.

Look at the photos from the movie Cosmonaut from the Czech Republic.

Photo: Netflix

Eastern European space cliche

Spaceman, as Netflix called the film, which currently leads the top 10 of its most watched content in the Czech Republic, did not have to turn out badly at all. The Swede Johan Renck, who became famous for the excellent mini-series Chernobyl, took over the direction. Adam Sandler plays the role of the cosmonaut Jakub, Carey Mulligan played his wife Lenka, Paul Dano lent the voice of the space spider Hanus. The soundtrack was handled by the phenomenal composer Max Richter, who left part of his space in the film to Dvořák’s Rusalka.

But the result is even more disappointing than its toothless novel template. If Kalfara could be praised for anything (albeit with self-denial), it was the gentle humor with which he remembered his Czech roots. But the film completely got rid of exaggeration. No bottles, no tatrankas, no potato fields with improvised space centers. Renck only borrowed his sentiment from Kalfara, and in the film, Bohemia looks like a country full of beautiful meadows and groves, but also impoverished faces, whose eyes look out from the trauma of communism.

It’s no better in space. Watching an exhausted Sandler alternate between fighting for survival, questioning his conscience over his abandoned wife Lence, and debating with a giant spider gets boring after a while.

It also doesn’t help that Renck doesn’t intend to change the tempo throughout the footage. The cosmonaut from the Czech Republic repeats the same sequence over and over. Adam Sandler languishes in a state of weightlessness, Carey Mulligan scowls obstinately at the sky. A cheesy flashback follows, in which the two meet dressed as a cosmonaut in a cardboard spacesuit and as a mermaid, and some breathtaking shots of a pink space cloud or Czech forests stretching to somewhere beyond the horizon…

The humor in Kosmonaut z Čech arises only unintentionally. Mainly thanks to Hanus, the plush spider monster with giant peepers. He acts like Falco the dog from The Neverending Story as he whispers wisdom about the strange behavior of those skinny creatures of flesh and blood.

Cosmonaut from the Czech Republic ends up as an over-whipped nothing. A product of cultural marketing, the most amazing thing about it is how many people it managed to fool. From journalists (including the author of this article) to aspiring directors.

Review: Cosmonaut from Bohemia (2024)

Original: Jaroslav Kalfař (book)

Cast: Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano, Isabella Rossellini, Kunal Nayyar, Lena Olin, Sinead Phelps, Jana Procházková, Marian Roden, Zuzana Stivínová

Available on Netflix from 03/02/2024.

2024-03-06 16:35:40


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