Obeti a vrazi

Victims and Murderers is the directorial debut of editor/actress/writer Andrea Sedlackova, and an impressive debut it is. Sedlackova's experience as an editor and writer may, in part, explain the noteworthy skill displayed in this meticulously crafted film. The writing is tight yet revealing. The flashbacks, essential to the development of the story, are so deftly inserted as to deserve particular mention. Visually, Sedlackova's palette and composition manage to transcend even the limitations of the small, grainy screener videotape and become, like the soundtrack, one of the subtextual informing elements in the unfolding tragedy. Victims and Murderers is the story of the incestuous relationship between half-siblings, a relationship which leads inexorably to their destruction. Actor Karel Roden's performance as the ensnared, doomed brother stands out in its remarkable portrayal of repressed rage and vulnerability. This archetypal story resonates of classical Greek tragedy, yet its setting, a small village in the contemporary Czech Republic, grounds it in a familiarity which makes the downfall of the protagonists particularly wrenching.