Divoké vcely (2001)
7/10
3 stars
14 May 2002
The main character is named Kaja, who lives with his father (who is obsessed with religion, in a humorously philosophical way) and grandmother. His (presumably older) brother is Petr, who is home after dropping out of college. Kaja has a crush on Bozhka, who has a child and is attached to Ladya, who in turn does a killer Michael Jackson imitation, which reminds me to mention that the film has a good soundtrack.

The first time director, Bohdan Slama, was at the San Francisco International Film Festival screening on 4/24/2002 to answer questions. He indicated that many of the actors had not acted previously, and that the budget was *much* less than $1 million. He said that yes, they did drink extensively during the shooting, and that one of the messages of the film is the danger of losing your traditions and roots. The title is apparently related to love and to the need bees have to live together in hives. I'm not familiar with other Czech films, but apparently there are many references here to many other Czech films, including "The Fireman's Ball."

This is a sweet film that I was glad to have seen, but be warned that it doesn't really have much of a conclusion. The earlier showing at the festival was the North American premiere.
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