The very dark Czech comedy Owners sharply observes the foibles of the human personality. It’s the regular business meeting of the apartment owners association – but their deliberations about building improvements are anything but mundane, and things quickly get personal.
It’s a rich cast of characters, including:
- the insufferable auditor who finds every nit and insists on picking it;
- the couple that are self-selected officers, but are too disorganized to ever make a meeting on time; (this time their excuse is that the babysitter was late – yet they come in with their kids!) ; and
- two slickster smoothies who are back in the Czech Republic after having made their way in the swashbuckling world of American finance.
It’s all a vortex of past neighborly grievances and self-interest. From the outset, one owner offers his services (I have a little company“) for everything from locksmithing to boiler repair – but his game is only the most naked. Everyone, it turns out, has an agenda. But most hold their cards close to their vests in this poker game of a negotiation.
It all results in multiple epic meltdowns.
It’s unexpected that this comes to mind from an Eastern European film, but Owners’ jaundiced view of human nature matches that of America’s greatest author – Mark Twain. As if Twain were time-traveled to the modern Czech Republic. One of the owner sagely avers that a “conflict of Pinterest” exists.
One element of human nature seems to be that it is easier to accept and trust the unfamiliar than it is the same folks you’ve been squabbling with for years.
Owners also comments on the post-Communist Czech Republic, with the gripes of the old commie holdovers and the onslaught of the new American-style capitalists. The old system didn’t work for everybody, and neither does the new one.
Owners is adapted from a play, and kinda like a funny 12 Angry Men, has a claustrophobic feeling from its containment in the conference room.
Owners has been recognized at this year’s best Czech film. Cinequest hosts the North American premiere of Owners. Make sure that you stay through the closing credits.