Jacub, a teacher, has an affair with Tereza, a married woman. When his father catches them, he orders Jacub to move out of his apartment. Jacub travels from the city to an isolated house of his late grandfather with a garden, in the middle of the countryside. He initially wants to sell it to buy an apartment, but quickly becomes pleased with the garden, the nature and a nearby girl, Helena, who becomes his girlfriend. Tereza shows up and wants to continue the affair, but Jacub refuses. Since he did not show up at school, Jacub is fired from his job, but he does not mind. His father shows up at the garden, claiming he feels lonely in the apartment. Tereza starts levitating above while lying on a table.
This unusual and meandering comedy examines the issue of what is the better area to live—rural or urban—and that even this change of a location can cause a change of a peron's mentality. It doesn't have a clear narrative storyline, but is more a meditation on just letting go and enjoying the peaceful nature. However, some episodes work better, while others less so. The director Martin Sulik crafts some unusual and creative scenes, the best ones being those that are on the verge of a slapstick comedy: for instance, the first time the protagonist Jacub visits the garden, he encounters a whole array of visual jokes (he cannot find a door knob of a tall wooden fence, so he climbs atop of it, only to find out the door moves since it was not locked; he enters an empty greenhouse, and it collapses; he takes a step on a bridge, and it breaks as he falls into a creek). Another fascinating detail is when Jacub finds a diary written in reverse letters, so he uses a mirror to read its sentences. There is also a sudden, spicy erotic moment already 3 minutes into the film, when Jacub's affair, Tereza (Jana Svandova), takes her bra off, shows her breasts and then fondles with him—until they are interrupted by his father. A lot of scenes seem superfluous and unnecessary in the second half of the film, which wonders off into too many random, poorly thought out ideas (in one fantasy moment, Jean-Jacques Rousseau shows up fixing his car in the garden, while his wife is inside; and for some reason, Jacub and his father give each other haircuts halfway into the film, so that they are bald for the entire second half), leaving a feeling of underdeveloped ideas, but the moment of Jacub and Helena rolling wrapped up in a white blanket across the garden, embracing inside, is wonderful.
Grade:++
No comments:
Post a Comment