2024-02-16 20:56:47
Jakub Štáfek does not act as a detective. When, in the first scene of the Hvar Police series, on board the ferry, he removes the wedding ring from his hand so clumsily that it nearly pops out the eye of a woman standing nearby, it seems that this time he will be more of a fool. However, it fits perfectly into the new Czech-Slovak crime drama, the first episode of which is broadcast on Sunday evening by TV Nova and can also be seen in the Voyo video library.
The Hvar Police, written by several screenwriters and directed by Tomáš Pavlíček and Kryštof Hanzlík, in its own way materializes the idea that in Croatia – specifically on this his favorite island – half of the Czechs and Slovaks are found in the summer.
Criminalist Michal, played by Jakub Štáfek, quickly discovers that everything here works according to special rules. Already because the woman he hit with a “snub”, which led to her phone falling into the sea and the subsequent sarcastic exchange of notes, is his colleague Ivana. She was portrayed by Alžbeta Ferencová, known as the singer Zea.
The initial bickering suggests that the enjoyment of criminal procedures will come last, as there will not be too much investigation. Everything is strangely shady on Hvar in the series. The new colleagues are trained by the “Croat”, i.e. Bořek Slezáček, who in his role as the chief of the Croatian police speaks more or less Czech with a funny hard accent. Which is at least offset by the remark that he is a local, but he can speak Czech. The creators will not deal with such details any longer.
For example, in the fourth episode, an important role is played by the women’s beach volleyball team, which has Czech flags on its jerseys and is training to participate in the Czech national team, but not only the coach, but also some of the players are Slovak. So be it, it can be imagined. Within the generally flimsy narrative and the construction of the individual parts, such small national steps, obviously given by co-production circumstances, are secondary.
What’s worse is that the series tries to combine the genre of detective story with summer comedy, but it can’t settle in either of these positions, let alone strive for some peculiar mix.
Most of the jokes in Hvar Police target stereotypes. Alžbeta Ferencová as Ivana Štefániková and Jakub Štáfek as Michal Pokorný. | Photo: David Musil
Most of the jokes are aimed at stereotypes, which is underlined by an older Slovakian colleague who is a bit racist and quite a lot of women, even though he should supposedly be happily married. Unfortunately, in the flood of shirtless notes and nice drone shots of the surrounding forested hills, nothing like a crime plot has time to unfold.
Hvar Police is based on the classic model of separate episodes. All too often on Vacation Island, someone dies through no fault of their own, every case is closed in a given episode, but clues are lacking to keep the viewer on edge. As soon as a murder is discovered, usually the first and second suspects appear soon, and you can guess that they will not be the real ones.
There are usually no clues lining the path to the real perpetrator. So all we have to do is wait. And just watch what line of strange episodic characters are spending their holidays on Hvar this time. Sometimes it’s a group of adventurers who take on various tasks, sometimes they’re magicians or a writer of detective stories.
The trippers’ mild-mannered behavior is pretty much the only entertainment the series has to offer. Specifically, for example, how the singer Xindl X does not play himself very well, how the mother of criminal investigator Michal, played by Vilma Cibulková, succumbed to hypnosis or how choleric the volleyball coach is. Alternatively, the viewer can notice whether they are more hostile to each other illusionists chasing a specter in the form of a spectacular trick, or an ambitious athlete.
Everything takes place in the summer haze, which seems to brainwash the heroes along with the splashing of the waves.
The Hvar Police series starts broadcasting on Nova TV on Sunday evenings, it can also be watched in the Voyo video library. | Video: TV Nova
When director Tomáš Pavlíček made the comedy crime film The Cases of the Extraordinary Marty, he at least had the French original at his disposal based on a genius heroine who is more crazy and a much less sociopathic version of Sherlock Holmes from the popular BBC series.
Now he has been given a script where the characters of the criminal investigators, including the central couple Michal and Ivana, are barely sketched.
He’s a bit of a jerk who takes things too seriously and makes stupid jokes even when it’s inappropriate. She is vivacious and slightly disdains the male collective. Bickering slowly turns into sparks.
Unfortunately, the chemistry of the actors is reliably killed by sometimes unintentionally bizarre dialogues, as if the only ambition was to make a series with many corpses from places where the sea splashes and the sun shines.
The director sometimes makes good use of the feeling for directing the actors, which he demonstrated in his film comedies such as Cottage for Sale or Prišla v nocchi. Even his attempt at small tremors is absurd or a larger portion of exaggeration, but at most momentarily adds variety to the overall clueless shape.
“So you killed it, man,” sings Xindl X in the chorus of the title track. Unfortunately, the hackneyed narration is almost the most striking message heard in the first four volumes of Hvar Police.