Friday, September 22, 2006

Travelogue Day 28

21/6/06

Something Like Happiness (2005, Bohdan Sláma)
From a depressed town, a man leave for America. His friend Tonik, girlfriend Monika, and their families remain behind, though he does promise to send for Monika once that becomes possible. Her friend Dasha seems ok, but when her lover doesn't leave his wife on her timetable, she goes a bit crazy and is committed.

Monika takes in the kids, missing her first opportunity to go to America because she refuses to send the kids to a foster home. Her father doesn't really mind, he likes Tonik more anyhow, but her mother is furious that she would squander this chance to escape and kicks her out.

She and the kids move in with Tonik and his aunt. For a time, they are a happy family, making improvements on the house and playing with the children. We forget about the boys' psychotic mother until she returns to ruin everyone's time by unceremoniously removing the boys from the younger one's birthday party, insulting her old friends all the while.

Tonik confesses his love for Monika, and she reciprocates, but she refuses him in the end out of loyalty(?) to their shared friend in America. Tonic encourages her to go and, as his aunt is dying, sells the house. Monika doesn't go and comes back to the house only to find it being demolished and Tonik disappeared.

The closest to happiness any of them came was during that pseudo-family time at the house. No one is happy otherwise, even when they have what they wanted (Dasha and her man). Monika seems to return so she can reconstruct that pseudo-family as a real one with Tonik, but she decided too late. He's gone away, perhaps never to return, and she only has the memory of something that almost was happiness for her.

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