Les solitaires

somewhat slow in developing the characters, but towards the end, a three-minute clip was incredibly rewarding: a family of two parents agree to being "seen" in the real and in the flesh by a group of 20 japanese tourists while having dinner inside in the privacy of their home. Daughter comes in. Sees the two parents seated, and on the rim of the dining room, twenty voyeours each holding a video camera. An ensuing discussion begins, with the parents disagreeing that the daughter sees a married man. The genius is that the tour operator, present in the room and who is translating in real-time from czech to japanese the dialogues between parent and daughter, is the married man's wife, and she knows the husband is having this affair. Under the strain of translating the dialogue that indirectly involves her, she cannot hold back a few tears. For the japanese, the crescendo of the dialogue is a rare opportunity in entering a private family domain, something that japanese culture would never allow, and they are grateful and express it with a emotional applause at the end. They also apologize en masse by all bowing with the video camera rolling when translator says something about them intruding. A genius short scene.

This movie is gorgeous. It's real and down to heart, but at the same time totally crazy. The characters are easy to fall in love with, because they have so many different minds, but each of us could refer to at least on. In Canada, we don't have many movies from Eastern Europe, and for the few I have seen, Loners is one of the best. It's very funny, and magic. If you want to see something new and refreshing, go see Loners.

Bravo to Czechs, their once-powerful movie industry seems to awaken from post-Communist slumber.

The Loners is a comedy done with all the elements you would expect to see in a modern "hollywood" production minus the garbage that seems to get attached to the genre over the past several years. Superb soundtrack, excellent visual editing, beautiful Prague cityscape, to mention but a few.

The story is actually comprised of several sub-stories that frequently intertwain and overlap, an is in essence a collage of destinies, fates, desires... It follows a group of urban youth-to-mid-thirties people through a variety of situations ranging from daily life and leisure activities to careers and obsessions. And it IS hillarious. There's actually a point in the movie where the entire theatre I was in (about a 100 people in a small art gallery) laughed non-stop for about 40-50 seconds. How often do you experience that with modern hollywood productions?

Although the entire main cast is excellent (especially the upcoming Macedonian star Labina Mitevska in the role of an immigrant facing the all-too-familiar hardships) I have to single out Jiri Machacek for his superbly believeable portrayal of Jakub, a constantly stoned bohemian whose brain is severely affected by the stuff he smokes landing him in a plethora of funny situations.

Conclusion: don't miss this one! It's got a lot to offer.

A great story of growing up, relationships, friendships, obsessions and coincidences. Samotari is first and foremost a very very funny film. The film runs around and within ten parallel stories, which, on more than one occasion, stream by one another to great new situations for the characters to deal with. The key to enjoying this move is to watch how quickly everything unravels and then knots back up again. The characters are a hoot to watch as they try to come to terms with their past and at the same time look towards the future. This is the kind of film that can stand along side such independent movies as those by Aki Kaurismaki and Jim Jarmush and be proud of itself. It looks great, sounds fab and makes you laugh so much that more than one toilet visit may accidentally happen while watching it. This is also an Eastern European movie and puts to shame most of what is coming out of Britain and America at the moment. The cast are so functional that when you leave the movie they do not leave you. This is the kind of stuff that people want to see. Not the 95% trash that ends up on video shelves every month. More luck to the film makers.

Do not miss this movie!!

Ben Holland.

I always thought Loners was just a situational comedy about a group of friends whose relationships occasionally intertwine and cause some chaos. But years later, I realized it's actually about something much deeper. And maybe that's exactly why the film still works so well more than 25 years later - it's timeless.

In reality, it's a portrait of a generation trying to deal with the emotional baggage left by their parents - trying to process their upbringing, trauma, and the absence of clear direction.

Vesna hasn't seen her father in years, even though he lives somewhere in the Czech Republic. She clings to UFO fantasies, unable to find any real grounding in life. Hanka is trying to have a normal relationship and escape the influence of her parents, but without realizing it, she behaves exactly like her mother.

Petr isolates himself from the world in a radio studio, building a bubble no one else can enter. Jakub turns to weed and drugs to avoid facing life, but in doing so, destroys any real human connection he could have.

Then there are characters who've chosen to become drug dealers or sex workers - not necessarily because they want to, but because they don't see any better options in the chaos around them.

And then there's Ondrej - seemingly the only one who has it all: a wife, twins, a stable life. But even he wants to run away. From his family, from responsibility - maybe even from himself. It's a reminder that even the most "normal" life can feel suffocating.

Loners isn't just about relationships between people - it's about the relationship each of us has with ourselves, and how hard it can be to break free from what we've inherited from our families. The film is ironic, melancholic, often funny - but above all, it's honest. And that's why it hasn't aged a bit. It's also timeless thanks to the iconic soundtrack by Jan P. Muchow, which perfectly captures the mood and emotional depth of the story.