Summary
After his fairytale-themed film debut Čarovné dědictví (Enchanted Heritage, 1985) writer-director Zdeněk Zelenka turned to the subject of adolescent growing pains in his next film Jsi falešný hráč (You're Card-Sharper). The main protagonists of this 1986 film are two young school friends on the cusp of adulthood, whose time together serves as an escape from troubled family lives. Gifted Adam Martínek is battling with a distant and ambitious mother, while Dušan Petera is suffering from the effects of having an alcoholic father. The friends manage to make money thanks to a band set up at the local people’s art school, in which Adam plays trumpet. But the tight-knit friendship soon begins to unravel. Non-actors Roland Samek (Dušan) and Filip Mourel (Adam) take the lead roles. The effectiveness of this story of rural youngsters is assisted by its adult cast – Ladislav Mrkvička and Daniela Kolářová in the roles of Dušan’s parents, and Iva Janžurová as a local and understanding class teacher.
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