Instant Favorite.

A lot of fun.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This is a Czech film, The awards it won & was nominated for were all very well deserved.It is about the true meaning of family.Coincidentally the lead actor ZDenak Sverak also wrote the wonderful screenplay & his son Jan Sverak skillfully directed.KOLYA (the title character is a 5 year old Russian lad Andrei Challman, this was the first appearance by this very bright boy, who is now appearing in a Russian TV series,He is now of course a teen stealing teen age girls hearts like he stole ours in the film.The time period is 1988 & the end of Communism,Thankfully there is very little political stuff in the film.The little boy is adrift & is helped by those around him mainly this middle aged lonely man.There is much humour,some sadness & most of all a true sense of what family means.The film is superbly acted & made. I highly recommend this.One word of caution, the very beginning is slow,stay with it & you will be glad you did .Ratings: ***1/2 (out of 4) 95 POINTS (out of 10) IMDb 9 (Out of 10)

Who knows what you will do when your back is against the wall? Survival makes you do some things that you would never try. In this case Louka (Zdenek Sverák), a confirmed bachelor, marries a Russian woman to get her Czech papers and to get him some money to buy a car and fix his house and pay some debts.As soon as they marry, she heads to Germany. her son, Kolja (Andrei Chalimon), a little five-year-old, ends up with Louka, who soon finds that he is bonding with the boy.It is a beautifully touching story with some outstanding performances by the two leads and Libuse Safránková as Klara.It is fascinating that star and writer of the screenplay is also the father of the director. I cannot imagine how that worker, but I bet it was interesting at times.

From another user comment, I gather that this film is packed with humor and references that will only be apparent to those familiar with Czech language and history.Despite that, to me it was an eminently satisfying film.There are three inter-related, connecting narratives, all intensely interesting, that propel the film and our attention.One is that this largely captures the time just before the revolution against Soviet occupation. It delineates very well what it was like to live within an occupied state with foreign rules and prohibitions. Among them, the way some people do (or do not) ally themselves to the foreign presence and support it for their own profit as well as quickly give it up when that's no longer profitable. And a little of what it was like in the transition to greater freedom.Another narrative deals with the life and times of a bachelor professional musician, a cellist, who long ago had to decide between having a family OR being a serious professional musician. He chose the latter route. Since that did not require him to be celibate, he developed excellent seductive skills which were perhaps near the level of his musicianship. His caring for Kolja changes him.The third major narrative to develop is the experience of Kolja, the eponymous subject of the film. He is the child of a single mother, Russian, who is determined to emigrate across the Iron Curtain. As a Russian she cannot. BUT, if she marries a Czech, she can. Due to a realistic but complex series of events, Kolja cannot accompany her.The film deals with trying to accomplish that and its aftermaths and consequences.I thought "Kolja" did a good job of showing SOME of the pain that a child -- separated from biological father, biological mother, biological grandmother, etc. -- would feel and what reactions would occur. But I'm a retired PhD psychologist who worked with scores of children in circumstances somewhat analogous to Kolja's. MY experience is that children placed in Kolja's place would almost always have far more destructive, harder to handle, reactions than Kolja did in the movie. I think it's understandable that Kolja was presented as NOT having those so intensely. This movie would have been rated by me a "10" if only they could have accomplished that but -- to do that, an entirely different movie would have to have been made. But, as it is, it shows the power of a relationship to transform those in it, of his developing love for the child humanizing the musician.

THis movie is great! all of the actors should be frozen to be kept alive, it such a great story. It's about a playboy who gets stuck with a four year old boy for two weeks. in the beginning the only time they interacted was when they slept in the same bed, but by the end they couldn't be separated. if you've consider seeing this movie, you should!!!!!!! it is incredible!!!! it has such emotion, when it was over i just sat there for two hours, just thinking and sometimes crying, but golly gee it is so great. i can't believe anyone could not enjoy this. even satin himself would have to take his pitchfork out of someones heart and sit down and think about the values of this movie. it is so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it truly deserves all of those exclamation points.