KOLYA
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
"I'm only a distant father," pleads confirmed bachelor Frantisek Louka. "I meant to say a step-father." An ambulance driver is leaving Louka's 5-year-old step-son Kolya with him, and Louka tries in vain not to accept delivery.
Kolya's mother had paid him to marry her temporarily so she could get out of Russia. On his doorstep now is a boy whom he never expected and doesn't want. It gets worse. The kid is adorable but only speaks Russian, and Louka only speaks Czech. And worse still, since the mother has fled the country, the police interrogate Louka about the marriage scam. Being questioned by the police in Prague in 1988 is not to be taken lightly.
Thus is the setup for the sweet and touching little picture KOLYA by director Jan Sverak. KOLYA is this year's entry from the Czech Republic to the Academy for consideration for best foreign film.
KOLYA is a sometimes slow picture that quickly wins your heart. There is great chemistry in the acting of the two leads. Zdenek Sverak plays Frantisek Louka, a 55-year-old man who is extremely handsome and believably has several romantic interests. He is a serious looking but playful man whom women in the story find charming, and so does everyone in the audience. The film's sexual situations are never explicit, and yet the show has some naturally erotic scenes. The best has to do with Louka's bow while playing at a funeral. He uses it to caress the singer and his main romantic interest, 40-ish Klara (Libuse Safrankova).
Besides taking one of the lead roles, Zdenek Sverak, the father of the director, also created the imaginative script. In the story Louka earns his income as a musician playing at funerals -- lots of funerals. Since he needs more money, he has several odd jobs, including restoring gravestones. It is through the latter position that his friend Mr. Broz (Ondrej Vetchy) talked him into marriage as a way to solve his financial difficulties and allow him to buy that little used car he wants.
Zdenek Sverak's performance is strong enough to carry the film, but he is usually upstaged by the other lead, Andrej Chalimon as the little boy with whom he does not quite know what to do. Chalimon is one of the sweetest and most photogenic child actors I have seen in a long time. His facial expressions are so sincere and sad that they will steal your heart. Most of the time he is that way, but in some precious little scenes, like the time he is read to in Russian over the phone, he comes alive and chatters away. The press kit said that they had some difficulty with Chalimon since he is such an incessantly happy little boy. They took to reading him sad stories before many of his scenes so he could get into character.
Although it will come as no surprise that the script has Louka coming to love his unwanted son, it is significantly more believable and involving than the Hollywood-style versions we have come to expect. When the inevitable child-in-danger part comes, you will be as frightened as I was and yet never feel manipulated.
The show ends on both a sad and a happy note. I was starting to cry at the former until I almost started to clap at the latter. KOLYA is a show that will make you richer in spirit for having seen it.
KOLYA runs 1:45. It is rated PG-13 for sexual situations and for a couple of mild profanities. To be interested kids should probably be about ten or so. I recommend the film to you and award it ***.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: January 19, 1997
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