The Kovak Box (2006)

Director:

Daniel Monzón

Writers:

Jorge Guerricaechevarría (writer)
Daniel Monzón (writer)

Release Date:

12 January 2007 (Spain)

Genre:

Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

You're trapped... and you don't even know it.

Plot:

A sci-fi writer (Hutton) is invited to an island for a conference, only to discover that he's become lured into a trap. |

Plot Keywords:

Corpse | Science Experiment | Female Nudity | Book | Balcony

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Timothy Hutton	...	David Norton
Lucía Jiménez	...	Silvia Mendez
David Kelly	...	Frank Kovak
Georgia Mackenzie	...	Jane Graham (as Georgia MacKenzie)
Gary Piquer	...	Jaume
Annette Badland	...	Kathy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jorge Aguado de Gabriel	...	Man with card
Cristóbal Anaga	...	Door policeman
Christopher de Andrés	...	Paramedic
Ana Asensio	...	CNW Announcer
Nina Bagusat	...	Hostess
Keith Bartlett
Jorge Bosch
Nicholas Boulton	...	US Consulate Official
Luis Callejo	...	Caves Caretaker
Kwenya Carreira	...	Thomas
Helena Carrión	...	Actress
Félix Casales	...	Hospital policeman
Fede Celada	...	Paramedic
Leslie Charles	...	Villa Manageress
Vicente Colomar	...	Hotel receptionist
Félix Cubero	...	Lift Attendant
Lorena Garcia	...	Hostess
Tacho González	...	Fred
Jeff Harding
Alexander Herrmann	...	Flirting Party-Guest
Alberto Lopez	...	Tour operator
Albert López-Murtra
Molly Malcolm	...	Psychologist
Iván Morales	...	Charlie
Pepe Ocio	...	Hotel bellboy
Fiona Ormiston	...	Mary
May Pascual	...	Charlie neighbour
Pepe Pau
Montse Pla	...	Final Air Hostess
Álvaro Roig	...	Hotel manager
Artur Sala	...	Tattooed Man (as Arturo Sala)
Colin Stinton
Dan Strauss	...	Doctor
Ben Temple	...	Roy
Tilly Vosburgh	...	Amy
Andres Ysbert	...	Taxi driver

Also Known As:

Caja Kovak, La (Spain)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violent and disturbing content, language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

Argentina:102 min | USA:102 min (DVD)

Country:

Spain | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:MA (2006) | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Germany:16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Castelao Producciones

Goofs:

Continuity: The amount of froth in David's bottle varies during his conversation with Silvia at the bar.

Quotes:

Jaume: She survived, but her name was in the list!

Movie Connections:

Features Arachnid (2001)

Soundtrack:

Gloomy Sunday

A big could-have-been

"La caja Kovak" follows American science-fiction best-selling author David Norton (Timothy Hutton), who goes on a part business, part pleasure trip to the Spanish island of Mallorca with his girlfriend. He proposes to her and she accepts. On that very night, she jumps off their hotel balcony and kills herself after a short stay at the local hospital. In the bed next to her is Sylvia (Lucía Jiménez), a young woman who found herself jumping off the balcony without having any recollection of how and why she did it. Both women did it right after their phone rang and the song "Gloomy Sunday" began to play on the other end of the line. Together, David and Sylvia decide to try and solve the mystery.

The introduction is well done and it lures you into watching more, wanting to know how a song can make apparently normal people want to kill themselves. However, it evolves into a bizarre and not always efficient mix of thriller and science-fiction that completely fails to keep up the suspenseful and supernatural tone of the start, and is in fact rather dull and inconclusive at times. The characters are also quite poorly written -except for David Kelly's character maybe, the most interesting of the whole bunch- and they become quite predictable, as is the ending. Also, many clues thrown in along the way are never properly answered to.

All in all, it's an okay movie, one to watch and easily forget.