Bohdan Slama's exquisite film follows the tender ties that form between a young, gay teacher, a lonely widow and her teenaged son in a small Czech town riddled with homophobia. The Country Teacher is about people who long for love but are too afraid to seek it out or give in to it. It is a simple premise, and the uniqueness of Slama's treatment – the rural Czech setting, the bucolic mood and the unnerving proposition that his character is a self-hating homosexual – breathe real intrigue and compassion into the story. Slama does not shy away from uncomfortable facts, and his characters are not the rowdy fellows usually found in Czech cinema. He fills his frames instead with melancholy folk who drown their boredom in bottomless bottles. Crafted through Slama's keenly naturalistic eye, The Country Teacher is a poignant and thoughtful work of cinema. Dimitri Eipides