Movie Details
Nagano Kids (2023)
Director-: Dan Pánek
Cast-Hynek Čermák: Plays Karel
Klára Issová: Plays Eva
Taťjana Medvecká: Plays grandma Natálie
Otakar Brousek: Plays grandpa Josef
Tomáš Richard Brenton: Plays Dominik
Pavel Batěk: Plays Milan
Johana Racková: Plays Katka
Simona Babčáková: Plays teacher Hrabáková
Movie type- Comedy/Sport
Release date-22 February 2023
IMDB Rating-6.7
Languages- Czech
Duration-1 Hour 38 Minute
Trailer
Synopsis
Twenty-five years have passed since the Olympic Games in Nagano this year, and for at least one generation it was a crucial event. I personally experienced it in the best possible way – I simulated the flu and watched all the matches in which the Czech team successively beat the more favored USA, Canada and Russia in the playoffs, at home. And I probably experienced the same emotions as director Dan Pánek. According to what his news story Nagano Kids tells about, we also have in common that we dreamed at least for a while about following in the footsteps of Jágr, Hašek, Reichel and Dopi, and none of us succeeded. But Pánek at least made a movie about it and that counts too.
Of course, The Nagano Kids is not about Nagano as such, it is about a generation of children who were suddenly presented with a team of heroes on a silver platter that they could identify with and follow in their footsteps. Even if it was only with a tennis shoe and on a patch, where they will play against boys from the neighboring village. Pánek’s film is largely based on his own experiences, and a lot of things that happen in The Nagano Kids are obviously taken from life and from memories and looked very well. If something works in this family show, it’s nostalgia.
Nagano Kids: PHOTO GALLERY
If you also crossed your fingers during raids with Canada and roared along with Robert Záruba a quarter of a century ago, you know what I’m talking about. But luckily, Pánek moved on and does not rely only on the famous tournament. His movie version of the 90s could perhaps be a little more clever, but on the other hand, Chaozz blaring from the radio, greeting Chago Bélo, crazy people, playing Pogs and messing around with Tamagotchi are things that couldn’t be more 90s. Fortunately, the director manages to build the atmosphere of the end of the last millennium with a fair set (clothes, cars, school classroom equipment), so the illusion of the nineties is ultimately great, even if perhaps a little too pleasant, it fits the nostalgia. And it looks nice.
It’s a little worse with what’s happening in Nagano Kids. Panek tries to open up too many topics here, and the closer the end gets, the more it becomes apparent that there simply isn’t time or space to wrap up all the plot lines. A lot of potentially interesting motifs and subplots end up feeling too rushed. Logically, putting together a team of street hockey players and a match against older boys gets the most space, but there are an awful lot of interesting and unfortunately incomplete things. I would have liked more space for the protagonist’s complex relationship with his stepfather, more problems at school, because the protagonist Dominik is more interested in his goalkeeper namesake than in the triplets. And even the relationships between the children’s heroes themselves are rather sketchy here, and often not even properly. Which brings us to the next problem.
Children’s heroes, who logically have the most space, are actors… let’s say they haven’t matured. Their playing is sometimes more like declamation, and although it is clear to me that it is not easy to find six children of the right age who can play and not break a hockey stick, unfortunately their performances – although all the young heroes are visibly trying – are often not very convincing. Unfortunately, Pánek did not find the new Tomáš Holé. Fortunately, Hynek Čermák and Otakar Brousek Jr., who act with gusto, are pulling it forward a lot, who after the Occupation has another successful film role.
Play the trailerWell, now how to make an assessment of it? In the end, with the Nagano Kids, it is not so important if they are well filmed and acted, but if they are for you and you understand the heroes – even if they are not completely well acted. If you lived through the Olympics at the same age as the creator of Nagano Kids, you will probably be happy to overlook the shortcomings, because this tribute to the hockey players, but especially to their fans, is obviously filmed from the heart. And if you, like its creators, crossed your fingers for the golden boys years ago, you will overlook the looseness of some lines and questionable acting, because you will remember how you fooled around with that hockey stick behind the bar just like the movie heroes and the director himself.
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