Kolya
(1996)
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Kolya
(1996)
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| Watch Trailer 0Share... |
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
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Zdenek Sverák | ... | |
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Andrey Khalimon | ... |
Kolja
(as Andrej Chalimon)
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Libuse Safránková | ... |
Klára
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Ondrej Vetchý | ... |
Broz
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Stella Zázvorková | ... |
Mother
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Ladislav Smoljak | ... |
Houdek
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Irina Bezrukova | ... |
Nadezda
(as Irina Livanova)
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| Silvia Suvadova | ... |
Blanka
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Liliyan Malkina | ... |
Tamara
(as Lilian Malkina)
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Karel Hermánek | ... |
Musil
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Petra Spalková | ... |
Pasa
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Nella Boudová | ... |
Brozová
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René Pribil | ... |
Pokorný
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Miroslav Táborský | ... |
Novotný
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Slávka Budínová | ... |
Bustiková
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Franta Louka is a concert cellist in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia, a confirmed bachelor and a lady's man. Having lost his place in the state orchestra, he must make ends meet by playing at funerals and painting tombstones. But he has run up a large debt, and when his friend, the grave-digger Mr. Broz, suggests a scheme for making a lot of money by marrying a Russian woman so that she can get her Czech papers, he reluctantly agrees. She takes advantage of the situation to emigrate to West Germany, to her lover; and leaves her five-year-old son with his grandmother; when the grandmother dies, Kolya must come and live with his stepfather - Louka. Written by Gary Dickerson <slug@mail.utexas.edu>
I saw Kolya at the cinema during the film festival here in 1997, and recently rented the video so the rest of my family could see it. The ending may be rather predictable, but the characterization is just magic. Best scenes: Kolya's funeral for the puppet, and the lump-in-the-throat moment when Kolya tries to call his babushka in the bathtub. Give that kid another acting job! A beautiful film. Even if you don't generally watch subtitled films, this one's worth it. My family and I all agree--this is a 10/10 film. They don't come any better.