Kolja (1996)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Jan Sverák

Writers:

Pavel Taussig (story)
Zdenek Sverák (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 January 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

The perfect grouch has met his match. A five-year-old boy named Kolya.

Plot:

Franta Louka is a concert cellist in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia, a confirmed bachelor and a lady's man...

Plot Keywords:

Russian | Tombstone | Bachelor | Stepfather | Funeral

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 19 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Zdenek Sverák	...	Frantisek Louka
Andrei Chalimon	...	Kolja
Libuse Safránková	...	Klára
Ondrej Vetchý	...	Broz
Stella Zázvorková	...	Mother
Ladislav Smoljak	...	Houdek
Silvia Suvadova	...	Blanka
Liliya Malkina	...	Tamara (as Lilian Malkina)
Karel Hermánek	...	Musil
Petra Spalková	...	Pasa
Irina Livanova	...	Nadezda
Magda Sebestová	...	Zuzana
Nella Boudová	...	Brozová
René Pribil	...	Pokorný
Miroslav Táborský	...	Novotný

Also Known As:

Kolya (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sensuality.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Czech Republic

Language:

Slovak | Czech | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Taiwan:GP | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (cable rating) | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Germany:6 | Norway:A | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | USA:PG-13 | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

Biograf Jan Sverak

Trivia:

The child actor who plays Kolja, Andrei Chalimon, was not cast until three weeks before filming started.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Throughout the movie, many background cars are clearly newer than 1989 models. The film is set in 1989.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Holiday (2006)

Soundtrack:

Slavonic Dance No. 15 in C Major

A Thoughtful, Luminous Film

What is a man to do who has resisted marriage until late middle age but then enters into a fraudulent marriage of convenience and ends up solely responsible for a five year old in the bargain? That is Franta Louka's dilemma in this beautiful film.

Louka, played by Zdenek Sverak who also wrote the screenplay, is a onetime philharmonic cellist who has lost his orchestra job because the Soviet era Czech communist powers-that-be deem him unreliable. As a consequence Louka has been reduced to playing at weddings and funerals and re-gilding cemetery tombstones. He has no car and is deeply in debt. In order to finance a car and reduce his debt Louka lets a coworker from the cemetery convince him to marry a Russian woman so that she can emigrate to the West. Louka reluctantly agrees and married the woman but the Russian decamps. This ultimately results in Louka becoming solely responsible for the woman's five year old boy -- who only speaks Russian.

Louka and the little boy's relationship is both believable and moving. "Kolya" is very nearly a great film. Highly, highly recommended. 9 out of 10.