BlueGreen

...or is it?

The story line is very simple: a 1970s Czech city family goes to the countryside for a short holiday... Adventures ensue. But this brilliant comedy definitely is one of those films that rely heavily on the viewer's understanding of the wider cultural context - and, of course, on magnificently humorous dialogues and interaction. (If a comparison must be found, I'd say it is much more reminiscent of Tati than of "National Lampoon", for example.)

It is an unforgettably hilarious yet gentle film. But without the help of a very good translator - and preferably at least a basic understanding of the time and space where the action takes place - I fear that much (not all, but much) of its intelligent humour will be lost.

For some strange reason, TV movies seem to be perceived as somehow "inferior" to the big-screen & big-bucks productions. Is it because of their comparatively limited budget and the resulting lack of "special effects"? Or is it simply a marketing issue? Be it as it may, many true lovers of film as an art do not care much about special effects, much less about the marketing involved. Those should absolutely see this delightful movie.

In a nutshell, it's a film about "senior dating", if you will, featuring two Americans in England. But their nationality is about the only thing they have in common..:) There is also a parallel love story, between a beautiful English stage and TV star and an American who is about 10-15 years her junior.

There are surprisingly few clichés, and even those are treated with intelligence. Instead, there is plenty of "class", intelligence, warm humour, wonderfully sensitive acting - not to mention the beautiful surroundings of the English countryside and the very good, unobtrusive musical score.

It's a sensitive, humorous, and ultimately poignant, film that will leave you with a warm feeling inside. "Foreign affairs" is one of those films that, for some reason, stay with you forever.

... and I've seen TONS of them. I love the genre. It's been more than ten years since I last saw this one, but it remains unforgettable.

I had to browse the web to find the title of the documentary; and one of the pages (at least one) called it "hilarious".

??!

Either I don't know what "hilarious" means, or the writer of that review doesn't know what it means - or we just have a very different sense of humour.

There are many many epithets that come to mind remembering that documentary, but "hilarious" is not one of them. I would call it a frank, poignant display of an (unwittingly) cynical world.

Dimitri, the writer's great-grandson, is a (or was) a tram (streetcar) driver; a typical, rather sad "ordinary" man, caught in the rut of a seemingly perspectiveless life in post-USSR Russia.

And then, somebody conceived the idea of making him tour some of the capitals of Western Europe, his only "ticket" being his surname. (He did try to sell - on a stand in a theatre lobby - some of his own work, drawing of scenes from his ancestor's books, but with little luck.)

Of course people were only interested in him because of his surname. Fair enough. Though I imagine he could have something to say about life - life in Russia in 1991/92, not 150 years ago - had anyone asked him. But nobody asked him. In fact, he found it difficult to even find a place where to rest his head when night fell. After the initial interest in him wore off, he was dropped like a hot potato.

And the one palpable benefit he did manage to get out of this particular journey turned sour - it almost cost him his life.

By all means, see this documentary. But if you are looking for comic relief, look elsewhere.