Polívka, Boleslav 1949-

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POLÍVKA, Boleslav 1949-

(Bolek Polivka)

PERSONAL: Born July 31, 1949, in Vizovice, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic); children: Anna.

ADDRESSES: Agent—Total HelpArt, Studio Barrandov, Kčíženeckého nám. 322, 153 52 Praha 5, Czech Republic.

CAREER: Actor and screenwriter. Actor in films, including (as Lasar Mageri) Balada pro banditu (also known as Ballad for a Bandit), 1978; Blues pro EFB, 1980; (as Dr. Zvonek Burke) Poslední lec, 1981; (as Honza Dostál) Kalamita (also known as Calamity, 1981; (as Slach/jester) Sasek a královna (also known as Jester and the Queen, 1987; (as Henry) Pehavý Max a strasidlá (also known as Freckled Max and the Spooks), 1987; (as Perda) Stek, 1988; (as Pepe) Sedím na konári a je mi dobre (also known as Sitting on a Branch, Enjoying Myself), 1989; Cas sluhu (also known as Time of the Servants), 1989; (as Vladimir) Nezny barbar (also known as Tender Barbarian), 1990; (as servant) V záru královské lásky (also known as The Flames of Royal Love), 1990; (as policeman) Prazakum tem je hej, 1990; (as Pliha, Tonda's neighbor) Obecná skola (also known as The Elementary School), 1991; (as Bohus) Dedictví aneb Kurvahosigutntag (also known as The Inheritance and Fuckoffguysgoodbye), 1993; (as Slezak) Akumulator 1 (also known as Accumulator I), 1994; (as Marktmann/Marketender) Schlafes Bruder (also known as Brother of Sleep), 1995; (as Chris d'Garné) Suzanne, 1996; (as Vicar Holy) Zaopmenuté svetlo (also known as Forgotten Light), 1996; (as King Vaclav) Kral Ubu (also known as King Ubu), 1996; (Martin Janák) … ani smrt nebere, 1996; (as clown) Akaty bile, 1997; (as uncle) Pelísky (also known as Cosy Dens), 1999; (as Marcelo) Eliska má ráda divocinu (also known as Eliska Loves It Wild and Eliska Loves the Wild Life), 1999; (as Josef Cizek) Musíme si pomáhat (also known as Divided We Fall), 2000; (as Ludva) Cesta z mesta (also known as Out of the City), 2000; (as the Noonday Witch) Kytice (also known as Wild Flowers), 2000; (as director Rosta) Vyhnání z ráje (also known as Ban from Paradise and Expulsion from Paradise), 2001; (as Stefan) Útek do Budína, 2002; and Cert ví proc, 2002.

Actor in television programs, including Traja chrobáci, 1976; (as Henry) Frankensteins Tante (miniseries; also known as Frankenstein's Aunt), 1986; (as host) Manéz (series), 1987; and (as host) Bolkoviny (series), 1997.

AWARDS, HONORS: Critics prize, Karlovy Vary Film Festival, 1999, for Cosy Dens; Academy Award nomination for best foreign-language film; Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, main prize, Golden Kingfisher, Don Quixote Jury Prize, Nove Mesto's Barrel of Laughs best actor award and audience award, Kristian award for best drama, FIPRESCI Award, Cottbus Film Festival of Young East European Cinema, most popular film, Vancouver Film Festival, and Palm Springs International Film Festival audience award, all 2000; Febiofest film columnists and critics award, Czech Lions award for best actor and best film, and Sidney Film Festival most popular feature film ranking, all 2001, all for Divided We Fall.

WRITINGS:

Poslední lec (screenplay), 1981.

(With Vera Chytilová) Sasek a královna (play and screenplay; also known as The Jester and the Queen), 1987.

(With Vera Chytilová) Dedictví aneb Kurvahosigutntag (screenplay; also known as The Inheritance and Fuckoffguysgoodbye), 1993.

(With Vera Chytilová) Vyhnání z ráje (screenplay; also known as Ban from Paradise and Expulsion from Paradise), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Czech actor Boleslav Polívka is best known to English-speaking audiences for his roles in director Jan Hrebejk's films Pelísky (Cosy Dens) and Musíme si pomáhat (Divided We Fall) and to Czech audiences for the two television shows he has hosted In addition, Polívka is also the author of several screenplays, most in collaboration with famed Czech director Vera Chytilová. Their most famous work may be Vyhnání z ráje (Expulsion from Paradise), which features Polívka as a director trying to shoot a documentary about the difference between naked people and apes. In his mind, the film is supposed to be a serious, experimental work, but the producer, who is also financing the project—a Russian named Igor—wants to make the documentary into a comedy. The extras, 112 nudists, are no help either, since they are constantly complaining either that the water at the nude beach called Paradiso is too cold or that the sand is too hot. Expulsion from Paradise is "not just a metaphor for the difficulties of interhuman intercourse, but also a concrete satire on the business of making films," a reviewer concluded on the International Film Festival Rotterdam Web site.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Volume 34, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2001.

PERIODICALS

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 21, 2001, Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, review of Divided We Fall, p. P1.

Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY), July 27, 2001, Jan Sandberg, review of Divided We Fall, p. G4.

Entertainment Weekly, June 22, 2001, Lisa Schwartzbaum, review of Divided We Fall, p. 63; August 10, 2001, Gillian Flynn, review of Divided We Fall, p. 30.

Financial Times, May 30, 2002, Nigel Andrews, review of Divided We Fall, p. 18.

Guardian (London, England), May 24, 2002, Kate Connolly, "Hate Thy Neighbor: Czech Director Han Hrebejk's Oscar-nominated Divided We Fall Tells of His Compatriots' Opportunism, Cowardice and Treachery under Nazi Rule," p. 10.

Independent (London, England), Anthony Quinn, review of Divided We Fall, p. 10.

Journal News (Westchester, NY), June 7, 2001, Marshall Fine, review of Divided We Fall, p. 9G.

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, July 19, 2001, Desmond Ryan, review of Divided We Fall, p. K3594; August 2, 2001, Jane Sumner, review of Divided We Fall, p. K0923.

Library Journal, February 15, 2002, Jeff T. Dick, review of Divided We Fall, p. 192.

Los Angeles Times, June 8, 2001, Kenneth Turan, review of Divided We Fall, p. F6.

National Catholic Reporter, July 27, 2001, Joseph Cunneen, review of Divided We Fall, p. 14.

New Republic, June 18, 2001, Stanley Kauffmann, review of Divided We Fall, p. 26.

New York, June 11, 2001, Peter Rainer, review of Divided We Fall, pp. 54-55.

New York Observer, June 18, 2001, Andrew Sarris, review of Divided We Fall, p. 19.

New York Times, June 17, 1986, Dena Kleiman, "Czech Play Canceled at Baltimore Theater Festival" (The Jester and the Queen), pp. 24, C12; June 19, 1986, "Baltimore Festival Aides Say Czech Actor Still to Perform," pp. 13, C22; June 21, 1986, "Czech Actor Appears at Theater Festival," pp. 9, 10; June 8, 2001, A. O. Scott, review of Divided We Fall, pp. B16, E16.

People, June 18, 2001, Leah Rozen, review of Divided We Fall, p. 31.

Record (Bergen County, NJ), June 8, 2001, Laurence Chollet, review of Divided We Fall, p. 7.

San Francisco Chronicle, June 15, 2001, Bob Graham, review of Divided We Fall, p. C3.

Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland), June 13, 2002, Andrew Eaton, review of Divided We Fall, p. 10.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 29, 2001, Sean Axmaker, review of Divided We Fall, p. 30.

Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), June 9, 2001, Bob Campbell, review of Divided We Fall, p. 23.

Time, July 23, 2001, Richard Schickel, review of Divided We Fall, p. 70.

Time International, September 3, 2001, Richard Schickel, review of Divided We Fall, p. 71.

Variety, July 28, 1997, Steven Gaydos, review of Forgotten Light, p. 60; November 1, 1999, Ken Eisner, review of Cosy Dens, p. 91; September 18, 2000, Eddie Cockrell, review of Divided We Fall, p. 40; July 30, 2001, Eddie Cockrell, review of Expulsion from Paradise, p. 20.

Wall Street Journal, June 30, 1986, Sylviane Gold, "'Animal Farm' Ruffles Feathers," p. 20; June 8, 2001, Joe Morgenstern, review of Divided We Fall, p. W1.

Weekend Australian, December 15, 2001, Evan Williams, review of Divided We Fall, p. R19.

Winston-Salem Journal (Winston-Salem, NC), August 10, 2001, Mark Burger, review of Divided We Fall.