Prague in the near future. A rocket with time travel has been invented, allowing tourists to visit historical events, but it is sealed off from the outside to prevent any of them from interfering with the past. However, three surviving German Nazis—Abard, Kraus, Bauer—who are still fit thanks to anti-aging pills, decide to use the rocket to give dictator Adolf Hitler a hydrogen bomb which will allow him victory in World War II. They bribe pilot Jan to help them, but he chokes on a bread roll and dies, so his twin brother Karel takes his role, to not break the heart of Jan's fiancee. Abard, Kraus and Bauer force Karel to open the rocket in 1 9 4 4, but since they misplace their briefcase with a tourist with only underwear inside, Hitler does not believe them. Karel uses the rocket to travel back to the present, a few hours before the events, take the role of Jan who died, anyway, and even help his alternate Karel to find a girlfriend.
A cult film par excellence, sci-fi black comedy "Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea" is one of the most unusual Czech movies of the 20th century, a true rarity that traverses between pulp and satire, high and low art, combining time travel, people who want to give dictator Adolf Hitler a hydrogen bomb so that he can win in World War II, "Groundhog Day" and twin paradox, yet it does so with so much ingenuity and clever planning beforehand that it all fits in the end. The director Jindrich Polak directs the film in a conventional and ordinary manner, but his story and concept are so unconventional and unusual that nothing matters besides them. This is one of the rare movies that go so over-the-top, and yet play it all so relaxed and harmless at the same time, so that everything seems uncontroversial. The concept of a time travel rocket used to send tourists to visit historical events is neatly set up, with the agency even using employees to dress up in a fur bikini and Marie Antoinette for promotion in the hallway, while the loudspeaker mentions: "Passengers are notified that the flight to see Alexander the Great has been delayed by a week".
When the characters finally arrive with their rocket to World War II era, one of the old Nazis goes: "I'm already looking forward to meeting von Braun, he never dreamed of something like this." The sole encounter with Hitler (a huge anachronism is that he speaks Czech instead of German) doesn't go well for the three old time traveling Nazis who are decalared traitors and spies, and one of them, Abard, is even executed by his younger self! Polak then plays with several time travel paradoxes, as the fake pilot Karel travels with the rocket a few hours earlier to the present, to prevent this whole situation happening, and since he knows what events will unfold, he can predict the next obstacle and stay ahead of the curve. In one of the most insane moments, Karel is unable to prevent the death of his twin brother, Jan, so he simply gets rid of his corpse and presents himself as a Jan (!) in front of Karel in this alternate reality timeline, which now features two Karels instead of two twin brothers. The way he outsmarts the villains and the whole chaos is resolved is delicious, and even poses some philosophical questions about identity, coincidence and time travel contradictions. The movie needed a better pacing and more jokes "in-between" these big plot points, yet it is so unique and demented that it simply stands out from the mold. How many Czech films are there that like this one? Only one.
Grade:+++
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