(Czech Republic/2008/Directed by Jiri Menzel)

I Served the King of England is a wry, rich, darkly funny portrait of a “vertically challenged” but ambitious go-getter named Jan Dite, whose to-do list in life consists of just two items: to be a successful hotelier, and to become outrageously rich. Unfolding over decades via a dazzlingly inventive editing style, Jan’s story is an engaging tale of opportunism, identity, money, sex – and beer – but also evolves into a disturbing, pungent, and witty portrait of the inevitable social and political fallout that accompanies upward mobility. The eagerly anticipated new film from legendary Czech director Jiri Menzel - whose 1967 Closely Watched Trains was one of the pioneering works of the “Czech New Wave” of the 60s and 70s – was a popular and critical hit at the Berlin Film Festival, and is based on a novel by the celebrated, frequently banned Czech author Bohumil Hrabal, who Menzel calls “one of the greatest contemporary European writers.” (118 min.)

“A beguiling, bigger-than-life black comedy that will be received like royalty by filmgoers,”    -Eddie Cockrell, Variety