When famed Czech mystic Kazma revealed he was moving his Oneman show to the big screen, he repeated that it would be so much more. “We filmed something that no one in the world has ever filmed before. Nobody has a film that has just started in cinemas. And what happens after that film, I think will be a big thing,” Kamil Bartošek told journalists from the iDnes.cz website shortly after he made noise in Karlovy Vary. It turns out that there the movie announced with Hynk Čermák, Jiří Langmajer, Ondřej Sokol in Nazi uniform and Jiří Bartoška screaming was just a trick.

After watching Onemanshow: The Movie, you can’t help but feel like you’ve been fired again. What’s the point, as expected at Kazma’s. We all want that from him. But this time, even those looking forward to another spectacular show will be excited.

It could all have ended seconds after Kazma stepped in front of the packed Prague multiplex premiere cinema, where a careful selection of celebrities could be made: from Karlos Vémola to Miroslav Donutil, Petr Rychly or etiquette guru Ladislav Špaček. Kamil Bartošek stated that those who speculate that there is no film are right. The middle finger appears on the screen, Kazma instructs the cleaning lady to start enjoying the hall, and is on her way out.

But then, accompanied by a drum-beating clown and an “armed” cosmo policeman, he returns and admits that if no one leaves, his full job can begin.

Not long ago, I speculated that the biggest surprise in Kazm’s career would be if he made a good film. I’ll admit that trace elements of astonishment while watching the news have finally emerged. Onemanshow: The Movie indeed Huh film.

It has a script, a plot, characters … maybe I’m not giving away too much when I say that it looks like Danny’s henchmen – after all, like most episodes of the hit show Kazma. Many brilliant plans, many thwarted events, many secret rooms with flashing lights and monitors, funny vans with bugging devices, failed heists. And it all comes down to a bunch of people: geeky programmers, soft-spoken tough guys, whizzes, bad mobsters, and so on.

If audiences only had Kazma’s film efforts ahead of them without all the sauce of mystification around them, Onemanshow: The Movie would be written as an unoriginal crime comedy with a confusing script and endless twists, where the best acting performances come from an unsuspecting retiree. Just the actions of a group of enthusiastic people, who could easily settle down somewhere on the river.

But Kazma wanted more. More than just a movie. He wanted a film that ended in reality.

On the one hand, this is understandable. The magic of Bartoška’s earlier projects lies not only in the drawers themselves, but also in their later reconstruction. It’s great fun watching footage from hidden cameras hidden behind the suits of paid actors trying to outsmart their favorite celebrity or an entire nation. Kazma’s carefully concealed nervousness, even when you think about it, manages to creep in, and one has to admit that at times he actually does support the man in the sunglasses.

The problem is that this concept has been showing material exhaustion for some time now. Kazma’s mystification is no longer surprising… or just plain interesting. Stepping into the real world this time doesn’t mean clutching your head, realizing you’ve been conned, and laughing your ass off (if you ever had that on Onemanshow). The “reality” that Kazma loved so much is now boring.

It is to Bartošek’s credit that he tried to turn the film camera against himself and reveal his own privacy. But that didn’t work. Paradoxically, the attempts at honesty here are overturned by the screens, the poor acting, and the script that makes everything seem safe and under control. No tension coming now.

The contest announced after the film, in which the audience is supposed to participate, will definitely not give off the impression of Onemanshow: The Movie. He acts as an alien to help distract the magician so he can do his trick: namely, pack the movie theaters with willing people to watch a particularly bad slayer with the prospect of a prize.

Onemanshow failed on both fronts. It was hoped that it would not turn out to be a great feature film. Instead of shooting a film, which should start the hunt for a national treasure, Kazma can launch a golden helicopter and scatter leaflets with any slogans throughout the republic. More than just baguettes. Collect competition codes to win hats, sports bags or cars.

This time though, there wasn’t even masochistic glee over someone making a joke of us. And so it was offered: what if someone starts playing games with Kazma? Did he bury his movie discs in a case deep underground and tell no one where to find them? Whoever did this deserves credit for saving the taste buds of the Czech audience.