Product Details

• Actors: Armand Denis, Martin Huba, Boleslav PolĂ­vka, Simona Stasova, Anna Geislerová
• Directors: Bohdan Slama
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: Czech
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Film Movement
• DVD Release Date: November 6, 2007
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000MD8ZJI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,442 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

SOMETHING LIKE HAPPINESS - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a gem not to be missed, April 20, 2007

By 

MonsieurRichard - See all my reviews

This review is from: Something Like Happiness (DVD)

Love-hate relations among three friends (Monika, Dasha and Tonika) who grew up in an impoverished neighborhood. Three smoke stacks from a nuclear plant are omnipresent in the backdrop, perhaps a symbol of the alienation of the three characters and their dire milieu. Dasha, an emotionally unstable nyphomaniac with 2 kids, is in great need of her friends' help, yet resentfully rejecting them. Tonika is a kind-hearted good for nothing whose undiscovered love for Monika becomes the impetus for a change in his life. Monika is the most finacially secured and emotionally the strongest of the three. However she's finding herself distancing from her highly eligible boyfriend who is pursuing a medical profession in the US. A worsening of Dasha's condition draws us into the plot and a web of their family relations. The movie is superbly directed, each character is fully developed and unpretentious. It's a refreshing surprise. I'd highly recomend it to any mature audience (there is a couple of brief sexual situations in the movie).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Subtly & Relentlessly Powerful, May 8, 2008

By 

D. Hupp "Hup234" (Woodbridge, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Something Like Happiness (DVD)

The acting is first-rate -- Geislerova, Vilhelmova, and Liska shine. Geislerova's performance is electric -- she makes Dasha so vividly disturbing. Vilhelmova and Liska, on the other hand, project subtle yet powerful caring, compassion and depth. I expect that you will see a lot more of this talented trio in the future.

The combined effect of the emotional web that centers on these 3 gifted performers is enhanced by the rest of the superb ensemble cast and increases the believability of the story-line and the setting. The struggles of everyday life among a group of friends, lovers, and relatives in an economically depressed area is so vivid and life-like that viewers from all walks of life will easily relate to them.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the story and the characters develop gradually but relentlessly. Patience in watching this film will be rewarded -- the emotional undertones will grip you and refuse to let go of you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Small Film Worth Watching, January 15, 2010

By 

Bryan A. Pfleeger (Metairie, LA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Something Like Happiness (DVD)

Bohdan Sláma is becoming a director to reckon with and two of his works have made the Film Movement Collection. In Something Like Happiness (Stestí) he creates a compelling small drama about the fact that life catches up with all of us no matter how we try to escape it.

Monika(Tatiana Vilhelmová),Tonik(Pavel Liska)and Dasha(Anna Geislerová) all three friends living in a housing project on the outskirts of a bleak industrial Czech city. Each longs for something that the others have but don't have themseves be it a dream ofva better life, a lover in America or stability. When Dasha has a breakdown and is institutionalized Monika and Tonik adopt her two young children and move onto Tonik's aunt's farm. Along with the new living arrangements come feelings of longing and love that both parties did not realize existed.

The film is beautifully shot and its presentation is fitting for the source material. Like Slama's other offering The Country Teacher this is a small film that is well worth seeking out. The film did extremely well on the festival circuit and garnered several Czech film awards.