Ray Pride

(Cesky Sen) A much, much better movie than "The Yes Men," Czech film students Filip Remunda and Vit Klusak manage to pull off something more in the vein of that group of social provocateurs’ ongoing pranks-cum-critiques-of-capitalism with their "Czech Dream." A nearly unclassifiable documentary-comedy, which is truly, truly funny, it is also readily in league with work by Morgan Spurlock and Michael Moore. "Czech Dream" finds the pair spending a government grant to market the opening of a new, low-price hypermarket, crafting jingles, posting billboards, passing flyers. All that exists is an empty lot outside of Prague. The campaign is for something that's not there just as the country is about to become part of the European Union. A cultural uproar ensues after "the largest consumer hoax the Czech Republic has ever seen." (The Czech Parliament was not amused.) This is the best kind of comedy: often uproarious and always unsettling. The recurring theme song came down from cheese heaven: you won't be able to get it out of your head. 87m. 35mm.

"Czech Dream" opens Friday at Facets.

(2007-09-18)

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