In the end, nobody gets what he or she wants in Bohdan Sláma’s marvelous,
sprawling, humane new film—a kind of Coronation Street set amid
the modern ugliness of a North Bohemian industrial neighborhood. Then again,
would you expect anything less of a grimly funny Czech drama? And yet, in the
end, settling for “something like” doesn’t seem so bad; it
seems like life. As Sláma’s slice-of-ordinary saga begins, a young
woman named Monika waves a tearful airport goodbye to her boyfriend heading off
for America, while the couple’s pal and childhood friend, Tonik—the
boy who really loves her, of course—stands by her side. Not quite a slacker
but hardly a trailblazer, Tonik turns out to be a mensch and Monika
a menschette—and the scenes in which they become substitute parents
of two little kids are marvels of warm realism. 102 min. Czech Republic,
2005. * Director expected to attend.
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