Vladimir Javorsky Movies

Writer/director Olivier Dahan (Crimson Rivers II) helmed La Vie en Rose, the screen biopic of tragic French songstress Edith Piaf. Marion Cotillard portrays Piaf, the superstar once raised as a young girl by her grandmother in a Normandy bordello, then discovered on a French street corner -- as a complete unknown -- by cabaret proprietor Louis Leplée (Gérard Depardieu). The film segues breezily between various episodes from Piaf's life -- such as her lover, French boxer Marcel Cerdan's (Jean-Pierre Martins) championship bout in mid-'40s New York; her period in Hollywood during the '50s; Piaf's abandonment as a young girl by her contortionist father (and earlier by her mother, a street singer); her brushes with the law as an adult; and her 1951 car accident and subsequent morphine addiction that caused her to age well beyond her years and left her barely mobile; and, through it all, her ability (like Billie Holiday) to funnel personal tragedy and emotional struggles into her vocalizations -- dazzling audiences in the process. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Capturing the dark humor of Czech author Michal Viewegh's chronicle of life after the Velvet Revolution, this black comedy chronicles three decades in the life of a small Czech family. While the original novel centered on the protagonist Kvido from his conception through his adulthood, first time director Petr Nikolaev and screenwriter Jan Novak changed the focus to his parents Milena, an extremely self-effacing lawyer who acts on stage in her spare time, and Ales, a rather aimless government worker who tends to drift wherever the wind takes him. The lives of Ales and Milena change dramatically following the Russian invasion of Prague in 1968. Wanting to get away from the ensuing heat, Ales quits his job and moves to the country. Without the protection of Party membership, he and his brood are forced to live on the summer porch of a locked home until young Kvido reads a pro-communist speech at school. Ales's new job necessitates frequent travel abroad and it is during just such a journey that he indulges in a brief affair. Back at home, Kvido rekindles a relationship with an old flame. One night Ales gets caught meeting with a dissident writer and ends up demoted to gatekeeper. He goes into a deep funk until Kvido heeds his mother's suggestion and presents Ales with a grandchild, or at least what appears to be his grandchild. Though it is at first a small deception, it is one that has great effect upon the little family later. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

It is just after the end of World War II in the new communist state Czechoslovakia, and the powers that be have decreed that the state will maintain a sizeable army. This spoof follows the adventures of one non-combatant regiment, the Black Barons, who spent the entire wartime period working in a quarry. Now they are attempting to behave like proper communist soldiers, but even the officers haven't got even the vaguest notions of Marxist doctrine. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Zdenek (Vladimir Javoprsky) is a gangly, rural and homely hayseed who studies music. When he takes a summer job as a mailman, he quickly becomes the object of affection for several willing females. One tells Zdenek she is pregnant and later runs off after abandoning the baby on his doorstep. He ends up caring for the infant despite learning that he is not the father. Although the feature is a comedy, it is hard to find humor in an abandoned baby, the plight of an emotionally troubled unmarried mother, and a suicide. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide