Zelary

This vivid exploration of the human animal creates a romantic alchemy that's raw, unsettling, and touching.

Managing to be at once epic and intimate, Zelary matches a resilient urban woman against a compassionate rural man in the spectacular Moravian countryside during World War II. Results rep a triumph of regional filmmaking, but in the David Lean tradition.

There is a heart-warming familiarity to much of its 2 1/2-hour tale, but the surprises around its edges gives Zelary a refreshing perspective.

For fans of old-fashioned European filmmaking, this may have its pleasing qualities.

This is just humble, heartwarming storytelling with good acting and lush visuals.

A well-intentioned but overlong Czech drama that comes apart completely in the last 20 minutes?

Zelary strands its protagonists in a hermetically sealed world where time runs in place. It's a feeling that viewers of this two-and-a-half-hour epic will come to know all too well.