Up and Down

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Up and Down

R,

2004,

1h 48m,

Comedy

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Watchlist

83%

64 Reviews

Tomatometer

74%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

83%

Tomatometer

64 Reviews

74%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

Post-Soviet Prague is seen through parallel stories of Czechs who share the same city, and yet are worlds apart. Human traffickers ditch a foreign baby with a working-class couple, who so love their new child that the husband (Jirí Machácek) drops his racist soccer hooligan pals. Meanwhile, middle-class Martin (Petr Forman) returns home years after his now-ailing father wooed and won his girlfriend from him. Since then, the couple has raised a child, Martin's sister -- or maybe his daughter.

Critics Consensus

A tragi-comic exploration of the universal search for stability in post-Communist Prague.

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Marc Savlov

Austin Chronicle

May 8, 2005

3/5

Hrebejk's stylish direction and perfectly chosen cast make what might otherwise have been a depressing tale of post-perestroika working class woes into a melancholy, comedic riff on what it means to be European these days.

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Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

Apr 29, 2005

For an engrossing, funny, sad, cautiously hopeful portrait of post-Soviet life in Eastern Europe, look no further than Up and Down.

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Richard Nilsen

Arizona Republic

Apr 28, 2005

4/5

The movie asks us to see these people as humans and to forgive them for being human and doing to each other what humans beings do to each other. It's a deeply humane film.

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Amber Wilkinson

Eye for Film

Jun 14, 2008

4/5

An ambitious premise that only just falls short of genius.

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Peter Calder

New Zealand Herald

Dec 30, 2006

5/5

This densely textured film by the writer-director team responsible for the sublime wartime drama Divided We Fall (2000) displays the same giddy blend of realist drama and bleak humour in the fine absurdist tradition.

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Marta Barber

Miami Herald

Apr 21, 2006

3/4

When you understand its message, the film takes on a different level.

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Poe M

Jun 17, 2018

Jan Hrebejk directed this cleverly sprawling comedy-drama about life in post-Communist Czech Republic.

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Jan Hrebejk

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Petr Forman

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Emilia Vásáryová

Vera Horecka

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Ingrid Timková

Hana Svobodová

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Synopsis

Post-Soviet Prague is seen through parallel stories of Czechs who share the same city, and yet are worlds apart. Human traffickers ditch a foreign baby with a working-class couple, who so love their new child that the husband (Jirí Machácek) drops his racist soccer hooligan pals. Meanwhile, middle-class Martin (Petr Forman) returns home years after his now-ailing father wooed and won his girlfriend from him. Since then, the couple has raised a child, Martin's sister -- or maybe his daughter.

Director: Jan Hrebejk
Producer: Ondrej Trojan
Screenwriter: Jan Hrebejk, Petr Jarchovský
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co: Ceská Televize
Rating: R (Sexual Content|Language|Brief Violence)
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: Czech
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 5, 2004, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Feb 25, 2005
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 13, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $244.1K
Runtime: 1h 48m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby SRD
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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