Klara Novak walks into a little shop around the corner, looking for a job. Top salesman Alfred Kralik informs her that there are no positions available, but she impresses store owner Mr. Matuschek enough to earn a gig. Novak and Kralik form a softly adversarial relationship, with each landing somewhere between uninterested and undermining, in regards to the other. Meanwhile, Kralik tells another clerk that he recently answered a newspaper ad by a woman looking for someone to write letters with over cultural topics. As he wrote and received letters from this anonymous woman, he soon fell in love with her mind and planned to meet with her in person. Novak has also been corresponding with an anonymous man who she plans to meet. Do you see where this is going? Well all of this is thrown into chaos when Mr. Matuschek’s mood sours and he makes everyone work a long shift. What’s eating Mr. Matuscheck? What will happen to Novak and Kralik? Tune in to find out!
Here’s another 80 year old film I knew nothing about, that I ended up absolutely adoring. I found the film’s premise to be so clever—that of two people who fall in love in writing but not in person—that I couldn’t help but think, “They need to remake this!” So you can imagine my dismay when I realized that they did exactly that, in 1998’s “You’ve Got Mail”. Still, I think this concept is destined with an even more modern reboot, with a streamer using dating apps as the vehicle for two people to fall in love online.
In addition to being tight and witty, the film feels really modern through its exploration of how people portray themselves (verses their reality). We all know that people’s “social media lives” and “real lives” are incongruous. The film makes this true for Kralik and Novak, who are all business in the shop but are their true selves in writing. In fact, everyone in the film has some sort of dual nature, be it Mr. Matuschek (a stern parental figure who is easily unwound), Mr. Vadas (a prim and proper gentlemen who is actually improper in a very specific way), and Pepi Katona (an ambitious, rough delivery boy who had a managerial gentlemen locked under his shell). In this way, the film is fun, funny, and interesting. Check it out!