CASFFA NOTES: Lost in Munich (2015, Dir. Petr Zelenka)

There's a breakneck newsreel style overview of pre-WWII Czechoslovak history in the pre-title lead up to the film making shitstorm that is Petr Zelenka's Lost in Munich. What follows is a curious exercise in unpacking the Czech nationalistic mindset as it relates to said pre-WWII Czechoslovak history, specifically the short lived mobilisation raised in in the face of Hitler's annexation of Sudetenland as part of the Appeasement out of Munich.

Zelenka has a lot to say about all this, some of it potentially quite insightful, but it is difficult to ascertain how serious he is in his theorising since he's buried it under multiple layers of faux-film and mockumentary tomfoolery. There's a shit-talking parrot, a floating bunker and Franco-Czech co-production/conspiracy parallels galore.

It is said you should only turn a steak once. This is not something that Lost in Munich adhere's to in in any sense of the barely-appropriate image. The film's constant flips push the conceit into over-done territory pretty quickly but there's enough sizzle along the way to keep mind drooling at the eccentricity. It takes a while to key into the film's tone after each up-ending and into the new guises of each character. A lot of energy is expended on orientation so there's little room for identification (something I think the film takes as read - and probably can with a home town audience).

So, though Lost in Munich is enjoyable three times over, as a whole it probably won't go down well for anyone not already in on the jokes. I have to say though, the appetite remains to go back for another serve to see how cleverly the film's unravelling is initially ravelled. Perhaps with the extra orientation, it'd be easier to stomach.

★★☆

Trailer:

Lost in Munich screened as part of the Czech and Slovak Film Festival in Australia 2016.