Clownwise

The Czech Republic, along with Luxembourg, Slovakia and Finland, submitted this award-winning entry to the 2014 Seattle International Film Festival (English captions). In it, we follow a retired clown Oskar who returns to his hometown (Prague) for a possible reunion with the two other fellows who formed his trio, "back in the day."

Our cast:

• Didler Flamand plays Oskar, who left because he felt artistically stifled by the Communist regime. Plus there was that little issue of a girlfriend...
• Oldrich Kaiser is Max, the heart and soul of this film. See what he does with a comb in the cancer ward!
• Jiri Lábus plays Viktor, now teaching his art and trying to help a student who wants to write his thesis on that old trio of clowns.
• Kati Outinen is his wife Sylvie, who now suffers from Alzheimer's. Viktor has endless patience and loves her unconditionally.
• Eva Jenichová is Marketa, the one who ran off with Oskar 30 years ago, to the dismay of his wife and three-year-old daughter.

This seems to have a very deliberate pace as we got to know each of these fellows and the women in their lives. At first I wanted to find a villain, but before the film was over, I cared about each of them (Max is my favorite!).

There was one lengthy skit that seemed tedious, but our screening audience didn't want this movie to end. It's always good to have the last laugh! We walked out with smiles on our faces.