Empties

Running time: 103 mins

Retirement can be a whole lot more fun than you think.

Director Jan Sverak astounded audiences with the Academy Award®-winning Kolya. With Empties, Sverak and his father Zdenek Sverak, writer-actor and collaborator, craft a bittersweet comedy about the antics of Josef, a cantankerous old horndog who retires from his life as a literature professor?primarily because he no longer understands his pupils.

Deciding he still has a lot to contribute to society, and needing to stay out of his wife?s hair, Josef takes a job at the local supermarket and begins to help those around him. His help turns to meddling, however, and his peevish antics against his new co-workers and the unfortunate customers lead to complications requiring dramatic solutions.

Few things in life are as challenging as marriage and retirement. When these subjects are explored by a masterful director, you should expect a comedy of substance. With Empties you get precisely that; a charming, funny, bittersweet, funny, romantic and ultimately, you guessed it, very funny film.

Tamee Tanoor