Have you ever felt like the TV set was sucking away your energy? That’s literally what happens in this Czech comedic fantasy. Ordinary people become completely sapped when exposed to television. Fisarek, the leader of what appears to be a group of energy cultists, realizes that when people are recorded for broadcast, doubles of them are created that live in a little TV-world. Like a child’s idea of how a television might work, these doubles constantly rush around, creating the programming we watch with makeshift sets and props. Unfortunately, the doubles need to absorb the life-force of their real-world counterparts to survive. Olda is one of those affected by this vampiric effect, and finds a way to fight back through Fisarek’s energy-focus training. He becomes a master of mind over matter, and ends up an unlikely hero. The story is simultaneously surreal and matter-of-fact; you need to give yourself to its logic, much like Being John Malkovich or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The dialog is snappy and filled with funny misunderstandings, and I was pleasantly surprised by the occasional strange special effects amidst relatively normal scenes. Fans of directors Michel Gondry, Jan Svankmajer and Terry Gilliam will get a kick out of this.

There are no comments yet. You could be the first!