Wednesday March 1st  2017

Czeck Republic  2007  104 minutes
Director: Jan Sverak
Starring: Zdenek Sverack, Daniella Kolarova, Pavel Landovsky

Another wry comedy from the director of Kolya, with some wistful undertones. Joseph Tkaloun is a 65-year-old school teacher in a stale and tired marriage with his wife of nearly 40 years. He leaves his job and looks for a new life, taking a series of lowly jobs until he settles on work in a Prague supermarket collecting and storing returned glass bottles (the ‘Empties’ of the film’s title). Much of the humour is self-deprecating: Joseph recognises that his daydream fantasies of sex and adultery are just that. The film hints at some Czech regrets for the passing of the old communist order, such as the loss of the local library to make way for a teeth-whitening business called ‘Happy Smile’.