The Kovak Box (2006)

A sci-fi writer (Hutton) is invited to an island for a conference, only to discover that he's become lured into a trap.

Director:

Daniel Monzón

Writers:

Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Daniel Monzón

Stars:

Timothy Hutton, Lucía Jiménez, David Kelly

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Timothy Hutton	...	David Norton
Lucía Jiménez	...	Silvia Mendez
David Kelly	...	Frank Kovak
Georgia Mackenzie	...	Jane Graham (as Georgia MacKenzie)
Gary Piquer	...	Jaume
Annette Badland	...	Kathy
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Isabel Abarraga	...	Judy
Jorge Aguado de Gabriel	...	Man with Umbilical Cord
Ralph Angrick	...	Lift Passenger
Ana Asensio	...	CNW Announcer
Nina Bagusat	...	Hostess
Keith Bartlett	...	Admirer
Julio Bastida	...	Telecinco Announcer
Jorge Bosch	...	Forensic
Nicholas Boulton	...	Consulate Employee

Storyline

A sci-fi writer (Hutton) is invited to an island for a conference, only to discover that he's become lured into a trap.

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Plot Keywords:

falling to death | loss of wife | nightclub | virus | cell phone | 

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Taglines:

You're trapped... and you don't even know it.

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Genres:

Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violent and disturbing content, language and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Spain UK

Language:

English Spanish German

Release Date:

12 January 2007 (Spain)

Also Known As:

A Caixa Kovak

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castelao Producciones, Estudios Picasso, Filmax

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min 102 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

In the end credits the word "Psychologist" appears as "Phsycologist".

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Quotes

Kovak: Do you really think you have a choice?

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Connections

References Nanook of the North (1922)

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Soundtracks

"Serial Blues"
Written by Roque Baños
Performed by Isis Montero Expósito, Raúl Martínez Cathcart, Marcos Collado Fernández, Vicente Borrás Roig and Manolo Marí Riera

User Reviews

A big could-have-been

"La caja Kovak" follows American science-fiction best-selling author David Norton (Timothy Hutton), who goes on a part business, part pleasure trip to the Spanish island of Mallorca with his girlfriend. He proposes to her and she accepts. On that very night, she jumps off their hotel balcony and kills herself after a short stay at the local hospital. In the bed next to her is Sylvia (Lucía Jiménez), a young woman who found herself jumping off the balcony without having any recollection of how and why she did it. Both women did it right after their phone rang and the song "Gloomy Sunday" began to play on the other end of the line. Together, David and Sylvia decide to try and solve the mystery.

The introduction is well done and it lures you into watching more, wanting to know how a song can make apparently normal people want to kill themselves. However, it evolves into a bizarre and not always efficient mix of thriller and science-fiction that completely fails to keep up the suspenseful and supernatural tone of the start, and is in fact rather dull and inconclusive at times. The characters are also quite poorly written -except for David Kelly's character maybe, the most interesting of the whole bunch- and they become quite predictable, as is the ending. Also, many clues thrown in along the way are never properly answered to.

All in all, it's an okay movie, one to watch and easily forget.