But that's not to say this picture's bad. An American writer (Jonas Chernick) goes to Prague in the 1970's to recover manuscripts of a great lost Yiddish writter and finds himself absorbed into an orgy of Czech lamentation over lost liberties. A thinly veiled account of author Philip Roth's experience in the same real-life situation, Chernick has Roth's look, but not the smarts and charisma in a role written, and played, as a naif who takes his New World assumption of civil liberties into a maelstrom of Old World oppression of political discontents, social degenerates, and enemies of the revolution, as labeled by their regime. But what a lot of Slavic talent surrounds him! How well they capture the frustrated creativity, mental torture, fear and insecurity under ubiquitous surveillance where everyone is suspect, and sex and booze are the only consolations.

Worth a look.