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)
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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Brilliantly executed conversational drama with elements of comedy that skillfully encompasses a wide range of diverse characters across "noble" Czech society. Looking at this panorama of human characters, I feel like shouting out that confining it to just the owners of apartments in one building is at least somewhat unambitious. (80%)
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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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I’m certainly not fond of Jiří Havelka as an actor, so I was all the more surprised by how I liked him in the role of a screenwriter and director. I had a great time, and I laughed out loud. In a certain respect, it also worked as a horror movie. If I were an owner of a property in a similar situation, I would definitely not watch this film for the sake of my sanity. Originally, I wanted to analyze the most interesting characters, but then I realized it wouldn’t be possible. Each and every one of the characters was interesting. I was just a little sorry that it wasn't possible to keep up the high quality until the very end, but I was very satisfied nevertheless. 5*
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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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