Kolya: smart and not too schmaltzy

Czech award-winner delivers safe plot line

Uplifting, yet not sickening Kolya's  web of characters live in Czecheslovakia when it was still a Russian satellite. The conflict is brought up creatively when the main character, Louka, is unwillingly stuck with a Russian 5-year-old named Kolya through a Green Card-esque marrige. Although halfway into the movie, despite the personality differences between the two men, you're sure that these two unlikely guys will get along and fill the gaps in each others lives. So, where's the surprise? Kolya.

Let's face it. This kid is amazing. The realism of five-year-old Kolya, played by Andrei Chalimon, throws the viewer off guard. He is a real child. He is temperamental, yet truthful. He knows when it's time to get pissed and when it's time to be playful and oblivious. He sends Louka, the smart-ass bachelor, into states of confusion and happiness and we lick it up.

Things go from OK. to better. The thing about Kolya  is that it's not overly dramatic or moving. Everything stays high on the well- done list but doesn't get too daring or controversial. Perhaps that's where its charm lies. Things are sappy in all the right places. The characters never reach the realm of Hollywood fantasy that makes young children the object of nauseating cuteness and the main character transcend to fairy tale glory, seen all too often before.

But things stay safe. The Czech animosity toward the Russians for a forced communist regime is dealt with on a humorous level that makes the problem seem slightly inconsequential. The innocence of Kolya plays this off to its best degree.

The characters remain honest, still giving the viewers what they want to see: a slick comment every now and then and a moment to whimper if you like. And y'know what ? That's OK, Kolya  is a well- crafted film. The shots are more than beautiful, the actors are talented, and everyone loves a cute little boy.

It's good. Not the kind of good that rips you out of your seat, or draws you toward deep philisophical thoughts for a few days. It's more like a quiet good that gives you hope for the world, but not too much. For all its raw believability Kolya  still makes you see a rainbow hiding somewhere. And why not? Some of the best sunsets are due to pollution anyway.

Kolya shows Saturday at 7:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. at Kettering. Admission is $1.