WILD BEES, THE

“Taking off hardly means soaring high, does it?” goes a father's rationalization for his adult son Petr dropping out of school and coming back to their impoverished home village, a dreary settlement of dilapidated houses and struggling rural industries in a forgotten corner of Moravia. Under a newly-capitalist system that seems to be no improvement over the departed socialist one (except that the bombastic local shopkeeper now wields more power and influence), Petr, his forest-worker brother Kaya, and their assorted friends and lovers are all in the same becalmed boat, harboring dreams and desires but lacking the strength, resolve or circumstance to fulfill them. There's Bozhka, Kaya's secret crush, a pretty girl working in the market who fears she'll soon atrophy into the middle-aged peasantish women she sees around her, “fat, stupid and content.” There's Ladya, a youth who has fashioned his appearance, crotch-grabbing persona and moonwalking moves after King of Pop Michael Jackson. There's Petr and Kaya's indominatable grandmother, trying to make the best of things despite the general atmosphere of futility and torpor. The ensemble's only possibilities of escaping the daily boredom: the annual Fireman's Ball, the social event of the year. Here their destinies converge, and the network of hidden longing and aversion comes to light in a bittersweet comedy about restless comrades searching for a Thriller. (In Czech with English subtitles)