Kawasaki's Rose (2010)

Genres - Drama  |   Sub-Genres - Ensemble Film, Family Drama, Political Drama  |   Release Date - Nov 24, 2010 (USA - Limited)  |   Run Time - 100 min.  |   Countries - Czechia  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Mark Deming

The skeletons in the closet of one Czechoslovakian freedom fighter change the way his family and the world looks at him in this drama from Czech filmmaker Jan Hrebejk. Pavel Josek (Martin Huba) is a well-respected psychiatrist and college professor who is also known as a noted political activist and anti-Communist dissident in the years before the Velvet Revolution. Pavel has a supportive wife, Jana (Daniela Kolarova), and an adult daughter, Lucie (Lenka Vlasakova), who is recovering from cancer treatment. The quiet life of Pavel and his family begins to fall apart when a filmmaker starts work on a documentary about his years as a dissident. Lucie's husband, Ludek (Milan Mikulcik), who is working on the film as a sound engineer, reveals to her that he's been having an affair with a former girlfriend, Radka (Petra Hrebickova); while Lucie tries to be rational about what's happened, it doesn't make her inclined to trust Ludek or what he has to say. But as the filmmakers look into Pavel's life, they discover evidence that casts an ugly shadow on his past -- documents suggest Pavel worked as an undercover agent for Czech intelligence, informing on his fellow radicals, and that his friend and colleague Borek (Antonin Kratochvil) played an unexpected role in his life. Kawasakiho Ruze (aka Kawasaki's Rose) was an official selection at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival.

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