Shows: 3/07 7:00 PM (Cal), 3/09 7:15 PM (Cam 12)

“Bal-Can-Can” is one of those Cinequest movies that drives home just how different its culture of origin is from American culture. It was made in the Czech Republic, and while the main tropes of the film are very familiar (dark comedy/thriller/action movie/buddy movie), the underlying way of looking at the world is not. This isn’t some fancy foreign art film. This is a middle-of-the-road film designed to appeal to a wide cross-section of its audience — but that audience isn’t American.
Its plot is very convoluted, and involves a quest to recover the body of our hero’s mother-in-law, the son of the hero’s father’s blood brother, international crime, the civil war which resulted in the creation of Slovakia and the Czech republic, and a whole lot more. Our hero winds up in an oddyssey across Eastern Europe, his only ally the aforementioned son of his father’s blood brother. They can only speak a few words of each others’ language, but they become friends anyway.
What makes this film particularly interesting is the culture it’s steeped in. This film is set in a world where violence is an everyday occurrence. Not in the way that an American film might be, either. The violence isn’t deplored or glorified (except in a handful of sequences with homages to both Tarantino and Woo) or even viewed with particular horror. It simply happens, and then one moves on with one’s life. It’s a strange feeling to watch a film like this, and one of the reasons Cinequest is such a wonderful opportunity for local moviegoers.
Note: While the film is unrated, some parents may find it unsuitable for youngsters under the age of 16.