REVIEW: American woman confidently goes from the theater to the screen – News

He prepared it carefully, there were only eighteen drafts of the script. In the end, it is obvious that he shot exactly according to his ideas, which gives confidence to the film. It is an unconventional job, which may cause controversial reactions.

But one thing cannot be denied him. It brings to wide awareness the timeless subject of children living without biological parents, and shows in a hard-hitting story that even the worst starting line and life’s caroms don’t have to end badly.

Tauš presents American Girl as “a film about a girl who stopped running.” Unlike the stage show, which captured eight years of her life, it follows everything from childhood to adulthood. However, it does not tell a linear story, but in the memories of Ema Černá (Pavla Beretová) who is already an adult, she will return to the main moments of her life. Main especially since it was you that Emma remembered.

“Mum was colored,” the American woman begins to narrate off-screen, suggesting that color will continue to be an important element of her memories throughout the following film.

The multicolored mother is an alcoholic and “weathered” woman who leaves the nine-year-old daughter to take care of her little brother while the older one runs away from home. Purple, worn by the director of the children’s home, symbolizes the solitude of the individual, but also the harmony of the collective in the children’s home. Pink in the foster family is both sweet and oppressive, blue on the girls in the pajamas shows dress and coldness.

The harsh narrative under the picture, which is dominated by Ema’s dream of getting to America to see her father, is only a supplement to the stylistic scenes, and the attractive visual format goes to set designer Jan Kadlec and cinematographer Martin Douba.

Apart from words, these scenes are carriers of emotions, of the girl’s feelings rather than experiences. Reality emerges from the screen in metaphorical and symbolic scenes that emphasize the inner life of the heroine and her memories, like the example of the first American chewing gum. Some scenes are filmed in the style of music videos, others are like musical numbers.

The part of Emma’s childhood is the most complete, the strongest and the most impressive. It is admirable how little Klára Kitto was able to express the identity of the girl, even in a double “I” in a double image.

The work of the director and the adult actresses, who prepared Kláru and other children, many of them living in children’s homes, for work before filming must be appreciated.

In the coming of age of Ema, in which the role of Klára Kitto is taken over by Julie Šoucová, the film loses its pace a little and drags out the length when it repeats harsh views from the shepherd. And when freedom comes and with the helplessness of life on the street, more theater enters the film than was appropriate. Includes closing remarks.

However, The American Girl is an amazing film that has original narrative techniques, and while they may not suit everyone, they are not limitations in themselves.