The Kovak Box
The Kovak Box | |
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Directed by | Daniel Monzón |
Written by | Daniel Monzón Jorge Guerricaechevarría |
Produced by | Álvaro Augustín |
Starring | Timothy Hutton Lucía Jiménez Annette Badland David Kelly |
Cinematography | Carles Gusi |
Edited by | Simon Cozens |
Music by | Roque Baños |
Distributed by | First Look Studios |
Release dates |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
Countries | Spain United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Kovak Box is a 2006 Spanish-British psychological thriller film directed by Daniel Monzón and starring Timothy Hutton, Lucía Jiménez, Annette Badland and David Kelly. The film concerns an American horror/science fiction novelist who finds the plot of one of his stories unfold around him after a conference in Spain.
Synopsis
On the island city of Palma de Mallorca, David Norton (Hutton) promotes his latest book, The Kovak Box, before a small private gathering of European fans. While nothing comes across as unusual, one of the audience members has a distinctive Russian Mafia arm tattoo and the hotel concierges are subtly condescending towards him, despite the writer's mannered patronage and celebrity status.
Later in the evening, Norton's fiancee, Jane, receives an anonymous phone call and jumps off their hotel balcony. After dying from her injuries in the hospital, Norton discovers a nearby patient, Silvia Mendez (Jiménez), did the same thing on the same night: While taking a shower, Silvia answered a call on her cellphone consisting only of the 1933 song Gloomy Sunday by composer Rezső Seress. After jumping from her window, she only remembers waking up nude under a crushed bar canopy. Silvia is a young nightclub debutante with no enemies or connections to the American couple. While recuperating in her apartment, a mysterious man attempts to stab her in the back of the neck but flees during a struggle. After surviving the attack, Silvia reunites with Norton, who is also being pursued by unknown assailants.
As he begins piecing answers together, Norton finds that the events coincide with the plot of his latest book, which is based on a real individual: Frank Kovak (Kelly) a disgraced Hungarian doctor who was driven to exile after his experiments were passed off as psychological warfare. Kovak has used neural implants and paid a network of criminals to emulate the experiment on Norton, in which everyone takes their lives (or suffers a brutal death) while the Gloomy Sunday song plays. Ailing from a terminal brain tumor, Kovak has nothing to lose except Norton winning his deadly game.
Cast
- Timothy Hutton as David Norton[1]
- Lucía Jiménez as Silvia Mendez
- David Kelly as Frank Kovak
- Georgia Mackenzie as Jane Graham (as Georgia MacKenzie)
- Gary Piquer as Jaume
- Annette Badland as Kathy
- Isabel Abarraga as Judy
- Jorge Aguado de Gabriel as Man with Umbilical Cord
- Ralph Angrick as Lift Passenger
- Ana Asensio as CNW Announcer
- Nina Bagusat as Hostess
- Keith Bartlett as Admirer
- Julio Bastida as Telecinco Announcer
- Jorge Bosch as Forensic
- Nicholas Boulton as Consulate Employee
References
External links
- 2006 films
- British films
- British thriller films
- Films about suicide
- Films about writers
- Psychological thriller films
- Films shot in Majorca
- Films shot in Madrid
- Spanish films
- Spanish thriller films
- 2000s films
- Films set in Spain
- Films scored by Roque Baños
- Films with screenplays by Jorge Guerricaechevarría
- 2000s science fiction film stubs