Directed by:
Jiří HavelkaCinematography:
Martin ŽiaranCast:
Tereza Ramba, Vojtěch Kotek, Dagmar Havlová, Jiří Lábus, Pavla Tomicová, Ondřej Malý, Andrej Polák, Klára Melíšková, Kryštof Hádek, Stanislav Majer (more)Plots(1)
Already domestically hailed as the year's best film ("a film beyond criticism"), this quintessentially Czech comedy-drama echoes the Czech New Wave as it exposes the foibles of a group of co-op apartment owners gathered for their regular meeting -- if only they can agree on anything at all. Call them the "Twelve Angry Owners,” we all know them: the petty bureaucrat, the gossip, the "I'm being cheated," the too-helpful person suspiciously smiling, the anti-everything guy. It's a nightmare confrontation between intractable egos, hilarious to watch as long as you're not a participant. Redolent with provocative themes even as it leaves us laughing, this wonderful film is sure to be one of the big hits of the festival. Don't miss it. (Cinequest Festival)
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Reviews (8)
This film's attempt at depth ended up digging a shallow grave for its own ambitions. Even on a second viewing, it failed to convince me it was anything more than a showcase of robotic caricatures following a preset script. I could have tolerated this if the film compensated with humor, but instead, it offers tedious chatter where almost every character sticks to their running gag and nothing more.
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An hour and a half of concentrated depression. I didn’t see the play, but it must have made you think about ending it all after seeing it. The acting’s great, apart from some minor exaggeration and (in my eyes rather forced) attempts at humor, but this is popular with the viewers, so I quite understand. I was surprised how realistic the portrayal of the owners was, and I would have gone for a more vicious ending, causing greater catharsis.
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If Ramba’s in it, it's a given that it's not going to suck. And not just that clever girl but the whole bunch of her colleagues gave it their all. It was so damn real I wanted to cover my eyes. I know this, I've heard this, I hear this a lot, that's exactly it, I can't believe it. These were the thoughts going through my head. The kind of atmosphere that makes you want to escape, but at the same time you want more. I’m not giving it full marks because I didn't like the ending of the film at all. And by that I don't mean how it ended, but the manner in which it ended. I didn't like the choice of music and the last 5 minutes or so evoked mixed feelings in me. Otherwise, it was awesome. 4.5 stars.
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I sadly didn't have fun the way I should have (or wanted to). The characters are all overly exaggerated caricatures for my taste, although I can't say that I don't know a representative of each group personally, and all their replicas and dialogue skirmishes mostly only sound like a well- written script, but still lacking something real. The actors, headed by Jiří Lábus and Teresa Ramba, help it as much as they can with their utmost efforts, and the result is not a bad, but rather an awkward bitter comedy that can only dream of being as good as Forman's or Papoušek’s dissections of human nature.
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A wonderful micro-comedy from an environment that inspires by its very potential. Jiří Havelka is an interesting personality of today. As an actor, he is handsome but awkward, but as a director he is creative and one of the best from the new Studio Ypsilon generation. His film Owners has a great, even stellar (by Czech standards) cast. Excellent turn of phrase and especially comedic timing. Bear with Us offered a similar kind of humor, but I feel that I will indeed be returning to Owners on a regular basis. "You can build an elevator from the second floor!"
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