KOLYA (1996)

Cast

Plot

Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, 1997, this charming Czechoslovakian comedy-drama features the most edibly adorable child star ever in Andrej Chaliman as five year old Kolya. Abandoned after his love-struck mother flees to Germany, Kolya is left at the mercy of confirmed bachelor and child-phobic cellist Louka, who's foolishly entwined himself in a marriage of convenience with the kid's mum. The political background, while necessary, never becomes too bogged-down, and indeed provides the ammunition for some sharp and painfully witty observations of human behaviour. Touching but never turgid.