TWO films in the currently running 2017 inaugural Czech Film Festival are directed by the award-winning Jan Sverak, with both screenplays by his father, Zdenek Sverak.
In Kolya, which won the 1997 Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, Zdenek stars as womanising cellist, Louka, who marries a Russian to save her from being deported.
The money he receives is to repair his mum’s old house, and perhaps he could stop engraving tombstones to make ends meet. But the woman skips town, leaving behind her 5-year-old son, Kolya (Andrey Khalimon), with her grandmother who then dies.
Louka must now take care of the child, a sweet kid with a charming smile. Well, of course Louka begins to shed his old ways and warms up to the boy. They don’t speak the same language so every breakthrough in communication tickles the heart. He takes him to his many jobs, which include playing at funerals, and his mother?? but Russians?? BOY?? aren’t at the top of her list ?? WHOSE?? of fun people.
At the funeral parlour, Kolya is taken up by the soloist Klara (Libuse Safrankova), and her usual song, the 23rd Psalm. Klara, as it turns out, becomes special to both man and boy. Ahhh, when love blooms, life gets rosier. But things get murky for Louka.
Many will find the finale sad, against the backdrop of the end of the Cold War, and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
TOUCHING WAR-TORN LOVE TRIANGLE
The second Sverak film is called Dark Blue World, which is about two Czech pilots who escape their Nazi-occupied homeland for England, where they enlist to fight against the Germans.
Told through flashbacks, pilots Karel (Krystof Hadek) and Frantisek (Ondrej Vetchy) have a good time in England. One day, the naive Karel crash-lands and meets Susan (Tara Fitzgerald) whose husband is missing in action. Soon, Karel and Frantisek are competing for the lonely woman’s attention.
With the end of the war, one pilot returns to his homeland only to be imprisoned, and guarded by former SS men. Things are no better for him under communism, then they were under Hitler. It’s a sombre touch to a love triangle story, of both heart and home. These two movies are part of five Czech movies under the festival which ends on Sunday.
Screenings are free at GSC 1Utama, Pavilion KL and Midvalley.
Log on to www.gsc.com.my for details and visit the participating cinemas to secure tickets.