Forum of Independents review - DAVID by Jan Tesitel

Mental illness induced marginalisation. David marks the fiction feature debut by Jan Tesitel and had its world premiere in the Forum of Independents section of the 50th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

David, title of the film, is also the name of its central character, a twenty year old male who is gradually becoming more and more aware of his mental illness. This is an illness that is cause of great oppression in his life originating from his own family, and of course, from the rest of society that marginalises him. One day, he decides to sneak off to the Czech capital of Prague, where his brother lives with his girlfriend. 

The trip, however, is not one destined to have a happy ending, and he finds himself stranded and lost in the streets of Prague where nothing but hostility seems to face him. What follows hence is a succession of events in which the titular character is abused and mistreated, whether directly and indirectly. Sometimes, even gratuitously. The abuse is so relentless and seemingly unstoppable that eventually, Tesitel's film becomes abusive to the audience.

Nevertheless, it never reaches a point in which it goes over the line, or dares to make a bold statement and hence it feels a little too noble in its intentions without fully provoking the audience. The overall excercise is allowed hence to go stale, and a lack of comic relief makes this film terribly grey without posing any real points with which to challenge its viewers. 

It is impressive how David was made with a micro-budget and manages to convey the dreariness of its narrative with its cold visuals and dark cinematography. Wide puppy eyed Patrik Holubar is placed in the difficult leading role, and does an admirable job of representing a worrying contrast of innocence to whatever influence comes across him. It is also worthy of note that the representation of the mental illness is juxtaposed by the representation of the same character of a young man and his carnal desire, as well as certain difficult awakenings. But because of the little payoff in narrative, certain scenes that could have been powerful - such as a pineapple eating sequence set on a bus, so half hearted it doensn't even feel awkward - end up seeming like filler and the overall character development also equally feels underwhelming and auto piloted.