Prague, 1 9 6 7. Teenager Michal Šebek is suicidal because he is in love with Jindřiška, a girl from the Kraus family that lives in an apartment on a floor above him. It is Christmas and the Kraus and Šebek family celebrate, even though they do not quite get along: Mr. Šebek is a communist official, while Mr. Kraus, a war veteran, is a firm anti-communist who says that the "Bolsheviks have a year left at most, maybe two". Jindřiška falls in love with Elien, who goes to the US for a year to visit his parents. Jindřiška regards Michal only as a friend. She takes over the household after her mother dies from a stroke. Mr. Kraus marries a single mother and teacher, Eva. After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in '68, Eva and Mr. Kraus disappear and their apartment is sealed off.
There is a whole sub-genre in European cinema about Russian or Soviet invasion of their country. In Czechia, one of the most often themes is the historical period of the '68 Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact / Soviet invasion, but its dark background is curiously often contrasted by being set up against a humorous story, and one of them is Jan Hrebejk's "Cosy Dens", which blends cosy slice-of-life, Czech humor and nostalgia. It centers on two families in Prague from Christmas holidays up to the invasion era, and uses them as a symbol for the division of the Czech society back then: one father, Mr. Šebek, is a communist official wearing a military uniform, while the other father, Mr. Kraus, is a staunch anti-communist. A further divide is among their teenage kids, showing each generation branches off into a different thinking and mentality. All this is wrapped around numerous wacky jokes and gags, which come swiftly and unexpectedly.
For instance, in one scene teacher Saša is urgently running to the toilet, but it is occupied, so he simply urinates in the sink, lowering his head in relief on the boiler — but its heat causes a small fire on top of his hair. In another moment, Mr. Kraus brags how to drink brandy properly, that one must first smell it, but he accidentally spills it onto his nose and starts coughing, and as he bends his suspenders break lose and fly upwards, hitting the chandelier, as he runs to the sink to wash his face. Already classic is the scene where Mr. Šebek proudly presents the superior communist invention of plastic spoons from East Germany, but as the guests use them to stir up their hot coffee, the spoons melt and deform. The pacing is a bit slower and there are some 'empty walks' here and there, revealing that the movie could have been tighter in its execution, but it is full of subtle ideas and symbols (after the Soviet invasion, the overweight Mr. Šebek is so disappointed with the system he wants to hang himself on a rope, but his weight only causes the entire shack he was in to fall apart on top of him), and its characters grow on you, and thus the viewers watch them even during some lesser moments, knowing a better one is just around the corner.
Grade:+++
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