Indiewire‘s Eugene Hernandez has written that Kawasaki’s Rose, the latest from prolific Czech director Jan Hrebejk and screenwriter Petr Jarchovsky, is “easily the best feature of the first few days of the Berlin Film Festival — the one undeniable find so far.”

“A story about an elderly ex-Communist whose misdeeds during the Dubcek era are slowly revealed, it slipps easily back and forth between various perspectives (and such is Jarchovsky’s skill, every character here was nuanced, contradictory, fully realized), and parceled out its revelations as deliberately and rigorously as a conspiracy thriller.” Kawasaki’s Rose “ranks among the writer and director’s very finest work to date.”

I wonder how Kawasaki’s Rose will play with the people who made Garry Marshall‘s Valentine’s Day the weekend’s #1 hit, pouring $52.4 million into Warner Bros. coffers? Is there a chance that a small fraction might pay to see it? What if paramilitary squads were to promise to destroy their homes with flame-throwers and grenades if they don’t see it? Is it possible some could be persuaded?