The Shop on Main Street

A film of unforeseen innocence and exuberant characterization that becomes darker as it progresses. TSOMS doesn't intrude nor does it feed you bull, but rather leaves you questioning the morality behind it all. Just when I thought I'd seen every great war film, this comes along.

Had me squirming for an hour straight, and crying for an hour after. Powerful film that everyone should see.

Explores the crisis of conscience that afflicts a well-meaning, hen-pecked man in 1941 Czechoslovakia, tasked with being the "Aryan manager" of a small Jewish-owned button shop. Tragic and comic (but mostly tragic) with excellent performances by the two leads. Occasionally drags its heels, but otherwise a fine and thought-provoking work that makes you ask yourself "what would I do?".

This Best Foreign Picture Oscar-winner is a truly awesome film with wonderful direction and very well-judged performances by the two leads.

Juxtaposed symbolism pervades the film, and time, and the acknowledgment, shame, and remorse. Go watch.

The way the film balances dark humour with a grim reality is top notch. You can see the moral dilemmas slowly building and the film's construction really draws you in and makes you wonder what you'd do in such a situation.

Tremendous, although the final part was a bit overwrought.

A tale that brilliantly switches gears between drama and dark comedy effortlessly. An excellent illustration of how power will corrupt a person and the emotional toll it can have. Haunting film that will stick with you for years.

The choice of ending seemed a bit strange to me, not in a bad way, but I'm not sure it was ideal. Other than that this movie is near-perfect in every way, from soundtrack to minor acting parts and it is one of the most deserving Oscar-winners ever.

That scene where the old lady Lautmann brings breakfast to Tono, while chaos is breaking loose out on the streets, is one of the most frightening moments I've ever seen on film.

this could be greatest movie of all time. but why people was pretending to old woman is moron? this made me angry

One of the best Holocaust movies, mostly because we watch all of the bad events from the vantage point of the shop, an utterly fascinating effect. Great performances, too.

kind of dragged at points, could've used some distilling down. old lady was a bit too senile/goofy to really care too much about her.

Inventive and well-made examination of the increasing impossibility of maintaining denial as the nightmare unfolds, fashioned with an extraordinary (and today very uncommon) restraint about what to show and what to leave offscreen: the narrative is effectively terrifying precisely because it takes advantage of the knowledge audiences must already possess about the inevitable onrush of collective madness and its awful consequences. Almost the entire thing occurs within two interior locations.

Expertly combines personal drama and comedy with a touch of dreamy surrealism.

Good movie with great acting. I'm however more a fan of Closely Watched Trains Czechoslovakia's second foreign language movie win two years later.

There is nothing wrong with this movie, and in fact it's a thoughtful and sympathetic depiction of the guilty conscious of collaboration, but I just don't feel very strongly about it.

Something of an otherworldly quality

The amazing second half redeemed the lackluster first half. The main character I felt like he was a bit passive, not really forming an opinion on the rounding of Jews and never really felt a bond with the woman. These get rectified in the latter half, but for the first half I was watching it only passively. It was horrifying to see so much evil so casually. Definitely worth watching.

The shop, the woman and the street stressed me the f*ck out; the music didn't reduce my anxiety either. I loved it!

The real punchline at the end of the story is this horrid thought: how far from Tono do you really think you are? After watching, I’m shaken, realizing it might not so many steps as I’d hoped.

Very good Slovak movie, Josef Kroner shows its bright and what a bright..

The first two acts here are good but not necessarily great, but they set up an absolutely astounding third act that is brilliantly conceived, acted, directed, and shot. The use of the camera in the next to last scene, following the protagonist around the room as a representation of his guilt, it especially brilliant and one of the best instances of semi-fourth wall breaking in a film.

I first flinched from the way Jewish expropriation is handled as farce, but then the deportation sequence comes, and it's truly disquieting, because it's seen from a supposedly safe distance that relates to the way we witness the tragedies of the world. And finally, just before the unnecessary ending: the horror of what we have inherited.

Initially I wondered whether this wasn't something of an apology for the Czech people who got caught up in the Nazi machine and thereby became complicit. And while understanding the complexities of a situation (which this film does beautifully) always yields empathy, the particular way this plays out lays a heavy weight of responsibility upon the general populace through the character of Tony. In the end, we get a dark portrait that grieves the monumental losses--personal and communal.