DĚTI NOCI

Tales from the Prague suburbs – and when a grocery shop is open round the clock, there’s no shortage of material. Especially at night, when Ofka does her stint in her brother-in-law’s corner shop. Sharp-tongued one minute, solicitous the next, she’s known many of her customers for a long time. Some of them are like herself – lacking in direction, lost in the night. Ofka’s taking some time off life: she’s unwilling to decide who she is, and not keen on giving much away to others, either. The first step into hostile adult life is to hide emotions behind a protective barrier of loudmouthed talk. Only her eyes betray the sorrow she feels because her boyfriend chucked her and went off with her best friend. And Ubr can read her eyes. The nervous, gawky youth is in a world of his own, too, but his love for Ofka is unshakeable. One evening, Ofka falls victim to a brutal attack. And the protective bubble around her bursts.

The story of a transition, told unpretentiously with minimalist precision. The vulnerability conveyed by the two intense performances touches the viewer in different ways.