Beauty in Trouble

Marcela (Anna Geislerová) is at the nexus of a crossroads leading to two men who are polar opposites. One man offering stability sans passion. The other an asshole, no end loser offering lots of thrills but no future. That is the crux of this multi layered family drama from Jan Hrebejk, the director of the brilliant film, Up and Down. The acting cake goes to Jirí Schmitzer who plays Marcela's sleazy and selfish step dad. The only jarring bit in the film was the soundtrack by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, which seem out of place from Once.

Rating: * * *

Up and Down

Two men smuggle a group of Indians across the Czech border. One of the refugees accidentally leaves her baby behind in the truck. This sets off a chain of tragic comic events that takes us into two different strata of Czech society. At one end is the soccer hooligan who's wife is craving for a baby. At the other end is the professor who has been diagonised with a tumor and his dysfunctional family. Both the stories intersect in a very tangential but yet natural manner and then go their separate ways.

Even though the movie deals with serious issues like crime, immigration, racism and the growing divide between the rich and poor, the cunning screenplay uses dark humor to bring the point across to the viewer in the most hilarious manner.

Rating: * * * +