How Long Is “The Can”?

A troubled high school kid finds both acceptance and danger in his new hobby in this teen drama. Petr (Tomas Vorel Jr.) is a teenager who is growing up without a father, while his mother (Zuzana Bydzovska) is too busy drinking to pay much attention to him. Petr's has found an outlet for his frustrations and a way of expressing himself through art, and while he does well in art classes at school, his favorite medium is spray painting elaborate graffiti murals around town. While Petr's girlfriend Pavla (Martina Prochazkova) is wary of his after-hours spray paint raids, his work has earned him the respect of Michal (Jiri Madl), a fellow graffiti enthusiast who wants Petr to teach him the finer points of his technique. Together, Petr and Michal become part of the town's graffiti underworld, and develop a new circle of friends and compatriots as they deal with teachers, cops and other disapproving adults. Written and directed by Tomas Vorel, Gympl (aka The Can) was a major box office success in the Czech Republic, where it was the nation's top box office draw for six weeks running.