Up and Down (Horem Pádem) | Review

Czech comedy looks at the painful separation with the past and the hesitation with the future.

Initially Horem Pádem (a.k.a Up & Down) might come across as a cut-out from a Kusturica-like film where Eastern Europeans sell babies like it were contraband cigarettes or stolen car radios, but instead, director Jan Hrebejk and co-screenwriter Petr Jarchovsky create the sort of comedy with dramatic overtones that withdraws from easy stereotypical character descriptions and presents an atypical point of view of a contemporary Slavic, post-communist identity with new economic realities and a new nationalist fervor.

Set in two different parts of Prague and layered with plenty of psychological broken fixtures, Hrebejk explores the notion of the family unit by way of separate narratives presenting each character with plenty of imperfections and an optional little optimism for good measure. The more comical tale visits a middle-aged couple trying to, and ultimately due to an unconventional method, start a family. The other story with more of a dramatic output features a broken-up family trying to lay the ground work for a practical future. When both stories finally interconnect it shows the sort of disconnect that currently exists in the Czech people which is emblematic with some of the issues in Eastern Europe societies.

Implanting issues of racism, the free market economy and immigration, both narratives offer opportune moments that deal with the issues – but both stories sometime suffer because of the film’s inconsistent structure. One unendurable diner table sequence with obvious underlined subtexts peers into old Czechoslovakian abhorrence of the Russians but also witnesses the resentment of an abandoned mother and housewife. By preference, the film works best at detailing the smaller moments – the double edge symbolism in the scene of a band of testosterone-filled football fans chanting their team name works best in exploring how on occasion nationalism can also be something that is not entirely positive for race relations.

Hrebejk makes a strong case about the complicated growing pains of a nation in transition – the style of the picture with its uneven pacing and deliberate non-cohesive structure best describes this current mindframe. The aversion of cartoonish figures but the inclusion of comedic stances makes Up & Down an evocative discussion on the matter – but is not an entirely satisfying spokes-piece.

Viewed in Czech / English / German / Russian with English subtitles.

Rating 2.5 stars