Loners

David Ondříček's 2000 Czech film follows several lives tangled together in Prague. Robert works for a travel agency staging the daily life of ordinary Czech families for Japanese tourists, and also likes introducing the people around him to each other. His friend Hanka is about to leave Petr, a radio presenter who records every sound around him in an attempt to capture real life. Another friend has disappeared into drugs and believes he is a burden to nobody. The film holds these people together without any large event, and what they share is an inability to actually get close to anyone. The mood of Czech youth at the end of the nineties and the changing city are continuously visible behind them. It was taken up at home as a generational film. Who it's for: viewers who like character-led Eastern European comedy drama. Who it's not for: anyone wanting plot and a clear ending; the film chooses to stay loose.