Dolls

This year’s Czech National Film Competition winner is an unusual and sometimes edgy Czech coming of age story that touches a few taboos. The début by Karin Babinská is a road movie about three teenage girls who set off for Holland where they hope to find work and to taste the ‘unknown’ sides of life. It is a film about friendship, first love and sexual experiences, first confrontations with the world of adults and hesitation at exploring this world.
The three girls (Iska, Karolina and Vendula) did not go on to university after high school, so they decide to grab the challenge that New Europe is offering them. They want to get a job outside their own country. Quite unprepared and inexperienced, they travel westwards in the Czech Republic, accompanied by Iska’s younger brother whose role – given to him by their father – is to look after his sister. While finding their way to Holland, the girls try to find their own identities. All of them are quite ready to try anything that comes their way. A film début for the director, the screenwriter and many of the actors. The film gives a feeling of ‘generation compactness’ and the whole is supported by the modern soundtrack by J.P. Muchow. (LC)

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