Oda sa Wala

Middle-aged Sonya lives an uneventful life. She gets up, goes to work, takes care of her father – who is foundering in his own little world – and then goes to bed. Her mundane existence is no longer disrupted even by mourners who occasionally turn up at the failing funeral shop Sonya is trying to keep afloat, albeit with ever waning enthusiasm. And then something happens to ripple the surface. A body appears on the doorstep one day and there’s no-one to claim it. The solitude of the dead woman reminds Sonya of the loneliness she herself is struggling with, and a friendship emerges which goes beyond unusual. Ode to Nothing is a meticulously composed, inscrutably tender film about the desire for companionship and about myths that don’t deserve to be exposed. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)