AllMovie

With his bittersweet, slice-of-life seriocomedy Of Parents and Children (adapted from the novel of the same title by Emil Hakl) director Vladimir Michalek explores the many layers and nuances of an eminently complex relationship between two individuals. At the heart of the story are an unnamed septuagenarian father who once worked as a microbiologist (Josef Somr) and his fortysomething son (David Novotny). Each man lives alone, and the only other common thread between them is a walk that they share, once per week, beginning outside of the penguin house at the zoo where the father gives a regular guest lecture. Over the course of these walks, many conversations emanate, demonstrating conflicting and contradictory feelings of love, hate, flashes of understanding and a complete lack of empathy. Each location that the men pass seems to evoke limitless associations from the past, demonstrating the men's long history together as they vacillate between estrangement and spiritual and emotional unity.