THE CITY OF THE SUN

Casualties of globalisation wherever the eye turns – Karel, Vinco, Tomáš and Milan, for instance, Slovak workers in the Czech town of Ostrava, who lose their jobs in a factory after it is sold to a foreign investor. The four men defiantly take fate into their own hands and buy a van in order to open up their own removals firm. But circumstances are against their determination to make a decent living: Most of the jobs our heroes procure (or invent) are dubious in nature, and lead to all kinds of complications. The men are equally troubled by the shortcomings in their private lives. Milan, who is divorced, is losing control over his problem-laden son; Tomáš, hot-tempered and lacking in self-control, is increasingly alienating his wife, the ladies’ man Vinco seems trapped in his habitual patterns, and the refreshingly playful Karel suddenly has to take care of his three small daughters on his own. With his customary gentle and casual humour, Martin Sulík develops the plot entirely on the basis of his finely drawn and plausible characters. Reminiscent of British social comedies, the film contains the accomplished performances now expected from this actor’s director. We view his figures with sufficient distance – but feel with them all the same. Utopian visions can no longer answer these men’s need to make peace with themselves and recover their dignity. The city of the sun is something for the travel agent’s brochures – but the small pleasures which perhaps add up to true happiness can be discovered in the everyday world so sensitively observed by Sulík.