FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
It's a tough life for a former star cellist. Since being kicked out of the Czech Philharmonic, Frantisek Louka (Zdenek Sverak) is forced to play funerals and repair gravestones to make ends meet. Lucky for the middle-aged Louka he still has his looks; even if he doesn't have the cash, he can still get the women. Married and unmarried women find Louka's subtle charm and good looks reason enough to visit his "tower," a top floor apartment in an old building. From his window Louka watches the Russian army in the streets of Prague. These are the days before the 1989 Velvet Revolution and the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia.Unfortunately, playing his cello at funerals doesn't bring in enough money. Louka always needs more. His grave-digging pal (Ondrez Vetchy) has a scheme that will make Louka debt-free and get him a car but Louka resists giving up his bachelor freedom for a cash marriage. Eventually he sells out and marries the niece of his grave-digging pal with the understanding that there are no ties or obligations.
The niece and her chain-smoking aunt pay Louka and he's hitched. But if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is - before Louka knows it, his wife takes off with her German lover leaving behind one small detail: her five-year-old son, Kolya (Andrej Chalimon).
The storyline is not hard to guess but it's enjoyable, because it's believable. The characters are real: Louka is not happy; his life is turned upside down; women don't seem interested in him with a young boy around; and Kolya is not enthusiastic about his new dad.
The plot is strengthened by the little sidelines it takes. Characters that could have been introduced and dropped are developed. We see more than Louka's relationship with Kolya grow such as his grave-digging friend and a funeral singer named Klara (Libuse Safrankova).
As the young Kolya, Andrej Chalimon puts in a good performance that is not so sweet it rots your teeth and Zdnek Sverak is a convincing set-in-his-ways bachelor.
Kolya, which is nominated this year for a Best Foreign Film Oscar is definitely worth seeing. It tells us an honest story without using proven formulas to trick us into liking it.
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