Kamenák

A comedy that whisks the viewer off to the quiet Southern Bohemian town of Kamenákov, where an array of typical Czech characters and archetypal families live life to an unvarying rhythm. The Nováks are a good example: the father (Václav Vydra) is on the police force, his wife (Jana Paulová) is a teacher, their daughter studies nursing, and nine-year-old Pepícek is a motormouth commenting on everything that happens. Imagine then the kid's surprise when two representatives of the English nobility arrive in order to claim the local palace (recovered through the post-Revolution restitution process). Small towns keep no secrets; soon everyone knows that the new lord of the manor has come to search for the treasure his father allegedly stashed away. And this juicy tidbit whets the appetites of the three local mafiosi in particular: a hardened criminal, the nouveau-rich Khon (Josef Laufer), and the town's dandy of a mayor. —Czech film center