The Kovak Box (2006)

Pretty Good

I wanted to but couldn't!

Absolutely Fantastic

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

If you ever thought about writing a book, this would be the way to do it. (IMO) The idiot 'rating/raters' on IMDb did not at all understand what a masterpiece of a story is!! No fancy FX, no car chases, just pure mystery and suspense that keeps you glued to the end. They pulled this off so well that the end made me go crazy with appreciation for this film! The bad guy plays the whole game from beginning to end and despite the illusion of the good guy winning in the end, the bad guy still got exactly everything he set after. I don't say these words often but: It was wonderful!It lost a star because I selfishly would have liked a slightly more expanded/significant ending but that by no means is saying that they left anything unanswered! You got your ending through and through. Everything made sense (If you paid attention!). I would have also liked a higher quality camera to have been used and slightly better camera work, but again it in no way took from this wonderful movie! Blows nonsense-suspense story, like Alan Wake, out of this solar system! This should just not be missed. They brush on so many deeper subjects that its kinda a shame the ride was so short. At the same time I understand their reason for the mystery and focus. Just so well played I can't say it enough.

A successful Science-Fiction author is invited to an idyllic Spanish island to talk about his work at the behest of a mysterious organisation. What should be a pleasant workman's holiday turns into something more sinister when people start committing suicide for unknown reasons - the only clue is that it is somehow all connected to his first book, that he wrote years earlier.It sounds like an interesting premise, and it is, but although the first few minutes seem promising the leaden direction and pedestrian script ultimately make this a difficult 90+ minutes to sit through. Characters regularly act in unlikely, bizarre and occasionally unexplainable ways for no other reason than it helps to advance the story. This is evidence of the real problem with the film - the story is striving for big moments of suspense, mystery and danger but it is not able to convincingly weave them together into something that works well.Such problems could be partially forgiven if it had all been building to something worthwhile. The finale is supposed to be thought-provoking and enigmatic and can be interpreted in two ways - unfortunately both are rotten. One interpretation will have you rolling your eyes in yet more disbelieving disappointment and the other lacks any sense of drama and suspense. Either way, the ending plays as uncommitted and ham-fisted.Ultimately the only things to recommend here are the actors, who are decent, and the score, which is very good; but these do not come close to atoning for the myriad problems that run through the story and the way in which it is told. Disappointing.

I'm not sure I've seen the 'Gloomy Sunday' reference explained here. 'Gloomy Sunday' was written by Hungarian composer Rezső Seress in 1933. The song is legendary for (allegedly) causing people to commit suicide after hearing it. Check out Wikipedia (search 'Gloomy Sunday') for the very interesting background on the song.As for the movie, I really thought it was first-rate. I found it at the video store, and got it thinking it might at least entertain me. It did more than that - the plot had me hooked from the first five minutes on.A "Kovak Box" is explained in the movie, but that itself is a reference to the "Skinner Box" of B.F. Skinner. This article, which comes from Snopes.com provides some very interesting background tidbits to the movie - you will recognize where certain plot elements come from - http://www.snopes.com/science/skinner.asp.If you like movies with a lot of intrigue, this is a great one to rent.

THE KOVAK BOX is a successful little suspense/psychological thriller from the Spanish writers Daniel Monzón (who also directs) and Jorge Guerricaechevarría. The story may be a bit far fetched, but then what horror story isn't? The premise for the tale holds up well and is aided by some very fine performances by a mixture of Spanish, English, and American actors. The mood of the film is beautifully set during opening credits by a complex maze in which a white rat sniffs and ambulates from confusing corner to confusing wall - just the manner in which director Monzón plans to tell his story.David Norton (Timothy Hutton) is a celebrated science fiction novelist visiting Majorca for a special conference accompanied by his soon to be fiancée Jane (Georgia Mackenzie). David has been having premonitions on his flight to the conference and those brooding thoughts continue as he registers for the conference and finds little disturbing clues that culminate in Jane's suicide leap from their hotel balcony. Almost simultaneously an attractive Spanish girl Silvia (Lucía Jiménez) in the same hotel 'jumps' from her balcony but is saved from death by falling onto an awning. Jane dies in the hospital: Silvia is in the bed next to Jane, witnesses David's grief, and the beginning of a bond is created.David meets a strange old man Frank Kovak (David Kelly) who seeks an autograph of David's first novel 'Gloomy Sunday' and from there the mystery begins. David becomes the unknowing main character in a sci-fi story that mimics ideas from his own first book, a story about the implantation of devices in humans that would enable a central force to assist the victims in their own destructive ends. The plot is tightly woven from this point on and to reveal any portion of it would diminish the chair-gripping finale.Timothy Hutton seems an odd choice for the main character of the film until his combination of cool intellect and understated passion clicks in. The film is graced by the presence of the talented Lucía Jiménez who seems to have the potential of becoming another Penelope Cruz! The cinematography by Carles Gusi and musical score by Roque Baños make the setting visually and aurally spectacular. For those who enjoy mind bender thrillers, THE KOVAK BOX will certainly please. Grady Harp