Steen Agro's new black comedy, Shut Up and Shoot Me, is an entertaining film from a first-time director. It's an interesting little hybrid of a piece, with a predominantly Czech cast performing in English. Shut Up is also a wonderfully observant study of Czech and English character, something that Agro, an Anglo-Danish-Italian native from Manchester who splits his time between the UK and Prague, pulls off quite effortlessly. "Being a foreigner on the edge of Czech life gives you a different perspective," Agro told The Prague Post. "You get a 'distilled' sense of Czechness. I think I will always be an outsider to some degree, but I can empathize with Czechs."

Shut Up is a film full of outsiders. There's Colin (Andy Nyman), adrift in a strange city and certain that he has nothing left to live for; Pavel (Karel Roden), who quietly smokes and drinks his way through one dead-end day to the next; and Pavel's wife Liba (Ana Geislerová), cooped up in their grim flat, who seeks solace through sex with the upstairs neighbor. But through Colin's search for the big sleep, the three (and anyone within their vicinity) find their lives dramatically altered.

After working for 10 years in advertising, with a few pit stops in theater, Agro decided to launch himself as a film director in 2003. "I was on the verge of getting the green light for a long-term film project," Agro says. "But the production company pulled the plug at the last moment." Rather than loiter about hoping for someone else to come forward with financial aid, Agro raised funds and dove into the small-budget Shut Up.

"We had an insane [shooting] schedule of 25 days, when we needed 40, really," Agro says. "But the budget was so tight that we just had to make the best of it." The director was at least fortunate to get a first-rate cast, especially the well-known Czech actors Roden and Geislerová. "Karel has been in so many huge movies, but he is still very humble," Agro says. "He has such screen presence. Anna, too, is spectacular, even when she is playing such an unpleasant character." Both actors are in top form here, and are equally matched by character actor Nyman, who hasn't had the chance to be a leading man before.

Agro wanted his first premiere (which happens Thursday, Dec. 1, at Kino Atlas) to be in his adoptive city. "The plan now is to see how it does and go from there," Agro says. "What we've done is a bit of an experiment. We've made an English-language film with Czech stars. If it can sustain itself in the Czech market alone, then I would seriously look at trying another."

Establishing a film career in Prague is one thing, becoming a Czech director is quite another. "My Czech is terrible," Agro admits. "I can just about order dinner and pay for it. I should really learn, as my daughter is bilingual and I need to know what she and her mother are talking about."

Chances are, they're talking about Shut Up and Shoot Me.