''Lost in Munich'' () is a 2015 Czech comedy film directed by
Petr Zelenka. The movie plot and title is inspired by ''
Lost in La Mancha
''Lost in La Mancha'' is a 2002 documentary film about Terry Gilliam's first attempt to make ''The Man Who Killed Don Quixote'', a film adaptation of the 1605/1615 novel ''Don Quixote'' by Miguel de Cervantes. The documentary was shot in 2000 d ...
'', a documentary film about
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including '' Time Bandits'' (1981), '' ...
's unfinished movie.
The narrative revolves a haunted making of the movie ''Lost in Munich'' which tells the story about unsuccessful
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
and 90-year-old parrot who used to live with the French prime minister
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier (; 18 June 1884 – 10 October 1970) was a French Radical-Socialist (centre-left) politician, and the Prime Minister of France who signed the Munich Agreement before the outbreak of World War II.
Daladier was born in Carpe ...
and is still repeating Daladier's quotes related to the
Munich Agreement
The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...
. The failed film production (with the feigned French
co-production) is the
allegory to the alleged
French betrayal in 1938.
The film received the Czech Film Critics' Awards for Best Film, Director and Screenplay. It was selected as the Czech entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.
Cast
*
Martin Myšička as journalist Pavel Liehm, as himself
*
Marek Taclík as journalist Jakub, as himself
*
Jana Plodková
Jana Plodková (sometimes Jana Plodek; born 5 August 1981, Jičín) is a Czech actress. She studied at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts. She speaks German fluently.
Theatre
Janáček Academy of Musical Arts
*''Monster''
*'' ...
as secretary of the French Institute, as herself
*
Václav Kopta
Václav Kopta (born 21 June 1965) is a Czech actor, musician, songwriter and host.
In May 2022 Kopta won the ninth season of a reality singing series Tvoje tvář má známý hlas.
Selected filmography Film
* '' Sněženky a machři'' (1983)
...
as editor in chief
*
Václav Neužil as husband of actress Plodková
*
Tomáš Bambušek as film director Tomáš
*
Vladimír Škultéty as producent Vladimír
*
Jiří Rendl as the
assistant director Adam
*
Jitka Schneiderová
Jitka Schneiderová (born 23 March 1973) is a Czech film, television and stage actress. She studied at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. She acted at Studio Ypsilon in Prague between 1996 and 2003. Schneiderová took pa ...
as Pavel's wife Dana, as herself
*
Stanislas Pierret as director of French Institute, as actor Gérard Pierret
*
Marcial Di Fonzo Bo
Marcial Di Fonzo Bo (born 19 December 1968) is an Argentine actor and theatre director. He appeared in more than twenty films since 1997. Di Fonzo Bo directed several plays in France and was nominated for the Molière Award for Best Director in 2 ...
as parrot assistant/assistant director Jean Dupont
Reception
Stephen Dalton of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'' wrote:
Paying explicit homage to Francois Truffaut's classic behind-the-scenes film-set comedy ''Day for Night
Day for night is a set of cinematic techniques used to simulate a night scene while filming in daylight. It is often employed when it is too difficult or expensive to actually shoot during nighttime. Because both film stocks and digital image s ...
'', Zelenka's mischievous mix of farce and tragedy is a much smarter animal than it first appears. Behind its zany premise and sometimes bumpy tone, ''Lost in Munich'' eventually emerges as a sardonic commentary on the Czech people's simplistic self-image as eternal victims of more powerful European neighbors. ... ''Lost in Munich'' is unlikely to take much business from Judd Apatow
Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his work in comedy and drama films. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he produced and directed the films ' ...
in the multiplex laughter league, but it is both entertaining and educational, a largely successful experiment in navel-gazing meta-comedy.
See also
*
*
References
External links
*
{{Czech submission for Academy Awards
2015 films
Czech comedy films
2010s Czech-language films
Films about filmmaking
Films directed by Petr Zelenka
Films set in Prague
Czech Lion Awards winners (films)
Czech Film Critics' Awards winners
2015 comedy films