User Reviews

I saw this at the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival. This film was Slovakia's official entry as Best Foreign Language Film to the Academy Awards. It is the feature film debut from Director/writer Martin Repka, a German born filmmaker who now lives in India and has gotten notice for his short films. Co-written with Eugen Gindl this is the story of Vanda (Katherine Lorenz) who is a flight attendant in Frankfurt and loses her job so she leaves her boyfriend David (Florian Stetter) and travels to a little village in east Slovakia near the Ukranian border where her grandmother Gita (Zuzana Mauréry) has returned to and rekindled a romance with her childhood friend Karol (Karol Csino). Vanda meets Miro (Lukás Latinák) who has a long criminal record and is involved in human trafficking, smuggling refugees out of Ukraine. Vanda and Miro began an unlikely relationship much to the dismay of Miro's live-in girlfriend Magdalena (Kyra Mladeck). Meanwhile, David has decided to try to convince Vanda to return to Frankfurt and travels to Slovakia and enlists the aid of colorful Slovazkian Gypsy named Victor (Radek Bezobohaty) who runs a motorcycle taxi service to bring him to Vanda's grandmother's village. This is a romantic comedy but not a light romantic comedy as it has a dark edge to it. It's a small film with a good cast and a good story and represents a fine directorial debut from Repka. I would give it a 7.5 out of 10 and recommend it.