Dir/scr: Bodhan Slama.2005. Cz Rep. 100mins.

A surprise winner of the top prize at San Sebastian, butno less deserving for that, Bodhan Slama's small-scale Czech drama surged aheadof more heavyweight rivals to take the Golden Shell for best film and bestactress (Ana Geislerova) - and that in a competition which allows a maximum oftwo prizes per film.

A well-observed look at asmall Czech city and the working class people who live there, Something LikeHappiness - not to be confused with another San Sebastian title, SomeoneElse's Happiness, from Belgium - is an always-involving, humanistic drama,providing a cool insight into the reality of today's poorer Eastern Europeancities.

While its pacing lacks thedramatic highs and lows which would give it a chance to seriously break out,arthouse business should be decent. Thanks to the San Sebastian recognition -which allowed last year's Turtles Can Fly to soar - Something LikeHappiness should get a small theatrical release in most major territories.

Slama's last and first film,Wild Bees, was the Czech Republic's Oscar submission in 2002, and thisfeature (currently tsop of the Czech box office) has also been named as the 2005 Czech foreign language contender.

International audiences willbe sufficiently enticed by reviews and the chance to see something new fromEastern Europe to give this surprisingly mature young director, who also wrotethe screenplay, a chance to spread his wings in the future.

In an un-named CzechRepublic industrial city, several young friends from the same run-down tower blockstruggle with the harsh realities of an impoverished adulthood. Monika's(Vilhelmova)'s boyfriend has emigrated to the US and promised he will send forher. Monika's mother sees this relationship as her daughter's chance to forge abetter life and a way out of a hopeless domestic situation, marred by herhusband's unemployment and drinking.

But standing in the way ofMonika's brighter future is her promiscuous friend, Dasa (Geislerova), rapidlybecoming more unhinged - to the detriment of her two toddlers - andincreasingly abandoned to desperate conditions.

Monika feels responsible, asdoes their other friend Tonik (Liska), who lives in his father's tumbledownchildhood farm, complete with leaking roof and no money. It also becomes clearthat Tonik is holding a torch for Monika.

While the narrative isn'tbriskly paced, Something Like Happiness's sharp observations andwell-depicted characters speak both to life in a small Czech city, resonatingon a wider scale with anyone who has ever wondered whether they should theystay or they should go.

Some of the characters areimmediately recognisable in any culture, from the crazy, manipulative Dasa toMonika's sad, lost father, and they linger long after the closing credits.

But while Something LikeHappiness is often sad, it is never depressing. Even in an unsympatheticrole, Geislerova's award-winning performance is riveting, while the other leadsare warm. Slama always holds out hope for his disadvantaged characters, and anamusing highlight are the "performances" by Dasa's two toddlers - obviously theproduction worked around them, and the result is fresh and naturalistic.

Production companies
Negativ
Czech Television
Pallas Films
Eurimages
Mitteldeutsche Medienforderung

Czech distribution
Bontonfilm

International sales
Wild Bunch

Producers
Pavel Strnad
John Riley

Cinematography
Divis Marek

Editor
Jan Danhel

Production design
Petr Pistek

Music
Leonid Soybelman

Main cast
Pavel Lijka
Tatiana Vilhelmova
Ana Geislerova
Zuzana Kronerova
Marek Daniel