Kolya
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Movie Reviews of Kolya
Movie Review: Lovely Film!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ah! What a lovely film! The sticky-sweet sentimentality of so many U.S. films drives me crazy and takes me right out of the experience. Kolya has none of that. Yet every time I see it, I get a lump the size of a moose in my throat. It's a must-see.Movie Review: An art work
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me put it this way...If there is one DVD I would gift my friends then it would be this one.Those who cannot see the wonderful humor and the beautiful bonding between the characters probably not suitable for watching movie of this quality.Movie Review: Not a cute movie about a cute kid
Summary: 4 Stars
I have read the Amazon reviews on Kolya and was subjected to the reviews in the Western press when this movie came out in 1996.
Most people thought it was a movie about an old bachelor whose heart melts when forced to care for a child foisted on him by a marriage scam gone awry.
Think again.
This is a profoundly pessimistic movie that uses the cute device of a child melting a curmudgeon's heart to slip by its point that the Slavs are a divided tribe. The last two thirds of the movie hammer home that Czechs detest and fear Russians. The movie takes place in the late 1980's but the Czech loathing of Russians persists to this day.
Russian soldiers no longer pace the streets of Prague. In their place mafiosi from Moscow, Bryansk, and Ekaterinburg, have made Prague the European centre of money laundering. The invasion of Russian money in the Czech Republic is as powerful and humiliating to Czechs as were those tanks that rolled in back in 1968.
The Czechs I have talked to look on Kolya with revulsion. The old man who takes in a young Russian boy will not wet too many Czech eyes. What is a westerner to make of this movie? Louka (the old bachelor) has a nice apartment in the Mala Strana section of Prague. Interior decorators will take note. Trabant enthusiasts get extended shots of the beloved Trabi doing the rounds of the Czech countryside. Afficionados of movies filmed with diminished lighting will appreciate the relentless chiaroscuro of the cinematographer. And some will get a kick from seeing an old degenerate seducing younger babes.
Viewers without such tastes and who do not know or care about Czech-Russian antagonisms will either see a movie that rambles, or will take the movie seriously and go away believing that Czechs are drunk on sex, mistrust of outsiders, and are willing to cut just about any kind of deal to preserve their creature comforts.
Strangely enough, I liked this movie and believe it to be a great movie. Great movies are like great boxers. They hit their audiences in many places, seemingly at the same time. Those with a glass chin will be knocked out by Kolya's sentimentality. Those with more resistance will feel the body-blows of Kolya's relentless social commentary. Those who like nicely filmed films will just sit back with a brew in hand and let themselves relax. Those who have lived in Prague, and know Czechs and Russians, will reel under this film's objective portrayal of life at the border where two great peoples rub up against each other.
Movie Review: It's still good- 10 years later
Summary: 4 Stars
I first saw this film close to 10 years ago, long before it was nominated for, and won an Oscar award. At that time I was a graduate student studying international relations and the themes in Kolya were so real and vivid. I myself had been in the Czech Republic in the Spring of 1992 as a student so I was unsure if my fondness for the film was because of my particular history with Europe at that time or whether it really was a great film. Thankfully, my memories of this film were not betrayed upon my recent revisit and I highly recommend this for first time viewers or returners.
Although the obvious "political" themes of the movie (Russian occupation of Czechoslovakia and the impact on daily life there) are less significant now, the depiction of this older Czech man (the perpetual bachelor unattached and seemingly satisfied in his solitary existence save for the occasion need to satisfy his carnal desires with visits from women young and old alike) and his relationship with the little Russian boy ( the pure and innocent youth who symbolizes the hope and promise and trust and faith that his older counterpart is conspicuously missing) that captured his heart are timeless. Whilst at times I worry that some of the meaning of the story is lost for non- Russian and non- Czech speakers (part of the poignancy of this story is in that the little boy who becomes the ward of this old man speaks only Russian and the man speaks only Czech... so they attempt to communicate with each other but the detail of this is lost for those of us unfamiliar with either language), even with subtitles you can gain much of the spirit of the film by watching the interplay and the fondness between the boy, Kolya and the man, Louka.
This is a story to warm your heart, it is in the tradition of cinema that does not rely on creative use of light nor colour nor extensive dialogue. Instead it is an exercise in movement and emotion, of innocence lost and innocence returned. It is a slice of life, there are no deeper nor hidden moral lessons here. Rather it is a demonstration of the basic human need of companionship and love, for however brief, in whatever form it takes. This film has mass appeal as it plays to both the male and female audiences- if you are looking for a pleasurable story with no hidden subtext that leaves you just a bit warm and fuzzy- this is it!
Movie Review: Go Louka...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a Czech foreign language film set in Prague in the late 80's. The lead actor, Frantisek Louka, is in his 50's and is an accomplished symphony cellist. He gets booted off the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (for some unstated reason) - he struggles to make ends meet and pay his debts by playing music at funerals and restoring gold-leaf on weathered tombstones. Louka has never been married. In between his part time day jobs, Louka, a charmer, chases married women and cares for his aging Mother. He is determined to buy a car (a Trabant) but struggles to find the resources to do so - that is, until a friend comes up with a scheme to marry a divorced and beautiful, young Russian woman who is looking to get Czech papers. After significant reservations, Louka agrees to the scam so he can buy his car and pay off his debts. No sooner are they married - the woman bolts leaving him to care for her 5 year son.
The film lightly touches on the Russian occupation of the country and its impact on the populace. There are some terrific scenes of when the boy lights up when he sees the Russian military officers and their equipment - and Louka's Mother's reaction who despises the Russians.
The charm of this movie is the relationship that develops between Louka, a most reluctant father, and an adorable Russian boy. Louka comes to care and love the boy and his life is altered from his former selfish and self-centered ways. Louka is the main attraction and star in this film - playing a gruff, self-centered, talented musician trying to find his way. I also enjoyed the music and the cinematography in this film.