The innocence of childhood in the midst of adult angst is the crux of Beata Parkanová’s Tiny Lights. It is a day in the life of young Amálka. A day that she has no real understanding of, but a day that will impact the rest of her life.

When Amálka wakes up, she hears adults downstairs. Bored alone in her room, she goes down to join them. She hears her parents and grandparents in a somewhat heated discussion. Her grandmother is unhappy with Amálka’s mother. When Amálka opens the door, her grandmother sends her back to her room, promising that Amálka can spend the day with her grandparents at the beach. Soon, her father has gone off to a football match and her mother drops her off at her grandparents.

Almost the entire film is shot at Amálka’s level. The discussion about her life goes on around her, but she is not really a part of it. Most of the time she is exploring the world around her, or playing with her grandfather. The film is more about an emotive experience than it is about plot. We follow Amálka through the day. We pick up the gist of what is going on, but much of it is beyond her understanding. Yet, it is a pivotal day in her life.

The grandmother is the most powerful personality in the film. She speaks with confidence that she is right and others are wrong. An early scene shows her scolding Amálka’s father for giving her milk in a mug instead of a proper glass. She expects (without much fulfillment) her word to be law. Her husband and Amálka’s father kind of roll along, just surviving their encounters with her.

In the opening when Amálka comes down to find the adults in their discussion, we hear the grandmother berating her daughter about the desire to be happy. She states that no one is ever happy. She sees the search for happiness to be a waste of time—especially for a mother of a young child. The grandmother disapproves of Amálka’s mother plan to live an artist’s lifestyle, which will take her away from her family.

The film doesn’t really address the issue of whether Amálka’s mother should or should not make happiness her prime value. I expect there are ways that the film will serve as a kind of Rorschach test for viewers who will think that there are obvious answers to what is happening (as both mother and grandmother do). The film, however, leaves all that in the background as we watch Amálka move through this day, sensing the stress, but not really understanding what any of it means.

There is no happy ending and this is not a fairy tale. By the end of the film, Amálka’s life has been changed, but she is still unaware of the depth of the change. It has been a day of far more turmoil than she realizes. It has been a day with pleasure and uncertainty for her. Finally, she ends the day as it began—alone in her room.

Tiny Lights is available to stream on Film Movement Plus.

Photos courtesy of Film Movement.