In the first fortnight of its mid-September domestic release, the pic's per-screen average was more than twice that of its nearest competitor.

In a midsized northern Bohemian city scarred by the rusted remnants of long-shuttered heavy industry, three childhood friends live bound by adult complexities in the desultory block of flats in which they grew up. Monika (Tatiana Vilhelmova), having said goodbye to U.S.-bound b.f. Jiri (David Dolnik), spends her time yearning for the call to join him and enduring an emotional tug of war between her parents (Simona Stasova, Bolek Polivka).

Carrying a torch for her is scruffy Tonik (Pavel Liska), a quiet but dependable free spirit who has escaped his conservative parents (Anna Kocisova, Martin Huba) to live on the ramshackle family farm on the outskirts of a town with his eccentric aunt (Zuzana Kronerova).

Loose cannon of the troika is reckless Dasha (Ana Geislerova), a loving but irresponsible unmarried mother of two young boys whose ongoing affair with middle-class hot tub salesman and family man Jara (Marek Daniel) is taking a toll on her stability.

When Dasha finally snaps and is institutionalized, Monika reluctantly decides to assume responsibility for her children. Seeing his one chance to gain ground on the absent beau, Tonik agrees to pitch in. But when Jiri shows up unannounced and the freshly released Dasha proves less than grateful, it seems everyone yearns for what someone else has, and nobody will get what he or she wants.

Slama weaves a number of satisfying visual motifs into the clearly delineated story: A glimpse of Jara's sterile showroom contrasts nicely with the farmhouse bathroom of Tonik's building, and Tonik's valiant efforts to patch the roof against the elements is a subtle metaphor for the work necessary to maintain friendships even with those one holds most dear.

Remarkably, the pic was shot more or less chronologically over the course of a year, with the helmer changing script to accommodate thesp input and fresh ideas.

Pic's moral fulcrum is Tonik, and "Return of the Idiot" star Liska's astutely muted and heartbreakingly sincere perf elevates into the first ranks of Czech drama an actor known primarily for deadpan absurdity.

Geislerova, who co-starred with Liska in "Idiot," gives a wrenching turn as Dasha. As her sons, moppets Patrik and Denis steal their scenes without disrupting the pic's naturalistic flow.

Tech package is grungily gorgeous, with "Wild Bees" lenser Divis Marek expanding his palette to a widescreen frame that somehow remains fluid and intimate. Art direction by Petr Pistek and Jan Novotny is authentic without exaggerating the squalor, while composer Leonid Soybelman's English-lingo ballad is a poignant coda over closing credits.

Original Czech title "Stesti," misspelled "Stetsi" in the Toronto fest catalog, is a compact pun on the characters' fates that means either luck or happiness, depending on the context.
 
Camera (color, widescreen), Divis Marek; editor, Jan Danhel; music, Leonid Soybelman; production designers, Jan Novotny, Petr Pistek; costume designer, Zuzana Krejzkova; sound (Dolby Digital), Jan Cenek; assistant director, Karel Bezdek; co-producers, Thanassis Karathanos, Karl Baumgartner. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Contemporary World Cinema), Sept. 10, 2005. (Also in San Sebastian Film Festival -- competing, New York Film Festival). Running time: 106 MIN.
 

 
With: Simona Stasova, Bolek Polivka, Martin Huba, Anna Kocisova, David Dolnik, Marie Ludvikova, Patrik, Denis.