Change Your Image
blu-16
Reviews
Szabadság, szerelem (2006)
Weak screenplay, shocking dialogue
I love the idea of making a movie to honor 56 and i also love making the story accessible to worldwide audiences. I think the film was executed beautifully, the sets, the costumes, the props, everything fit perfectly, so no problem there.
I think the acting was also generally good, Csanyi never disappoints, Gesztesi comes through as always, etc. However, the two lead characters could have done a better job - both Fenyo and Dobo have a difficult time conveying emotions. Fenyo usually looks like a bored android and Dobo - well, whatever.
The biggest problem is the inane writing. The plot is just a cheap TV-movie template, predictable, clichéd and often gratuitous. What's even worse is the dialogue. It's comic-book level, sometimes even worse. I was at the point of leaving the theatre after several badly written lines that would have looked out of place even in a high-school essay.
Anyways, go see it for the pictures and for the great background story, if you are not familiar with Hungary's shining moment in 20th century history. But don't expect profound entertainment or a thrilling story.
As often, history is the best playwright. Too bad the human ones didn't live up to the job.
Match Point (2005)
Match Pointless
Really weak plot, uninspiring dialog, predictable acting. Woody is just not very good at drama and he proves it once again. The forced parallel with Crime & Punishment is a drag and Chris Wilton is sure no Raskolnikov. The plot may have worked as a cream puff romantic comedy, but it's not funny, save for the unintentional comic effect of the badly written characters spewing banal truisms with tragic facial expressions. The attempts at depth and wisdom are so weak, dishonest and lazy, it's the level of high-school poetry. It may have worked as a crime movie, but it's not very exciting. Just predictability all around. Even the twists in the plot are not very surprising. Oh, and the dialog. Just dreadful. Plain dreadful.
Don't waste your time on it.
Sorstalanság (2005)
The book is better, of course - the boy is worth it
As in the case of many adaptations, the book is much better - even if the original author wrote the screenplay himself. Nobel Prize winner Kertesz and Koltay, the Oscar nominated cinematographer in his directing debut, are both newcomers to their respective roles and the film bears all the resulting flaws. Morricone is an old pro, but he seems not to have given everything when composing the soundtrack - not much actually, besides his name.
The original book is genius and the film itself was a national cause in Hungary, with heavy government funding, so in some ways it's not surprising that it fails to deliver.
It's easy to tell the movie was shot with the master cinematographer's eye, as it rolls beautifully throughout and it does follow the book's heart-wrenching plot relatively closely.
What it misses, is the book's unique voice. What sets Sorstalansag (Fateless) apart from the ocean of Holocaust books is the young protagonist's withdrawn, uninvolved perspective. He never allows himself to dive into the big questions of life and never protests against his fate - or a lack of it. The book lacks big emotions, those are always formed in the reader, making them all the more powerful.
This is where the film fails miserably. Maybe it was too tempting to go the sentimental route, maybe it's Morricone's uninspired music, maybe it's Koltay's inexperience as a director, but Fateless turns into nothing more and nothing less than a relatively well made Holocaust film. Enjoyable, if a bit longish.
The great bright spot is young Marcell Nagy, who delivers with precision well beyond his age as the lead character. Whether knowingly or by chance, he always has an aura of remoteness about him that nails the original's voice exactly. Even surrounded by some of the best Hungarian actors, the boy carries the film by himself. If for nothing else, it's well worth to see to witness such a stunning performance.
Nyócker! (2004)
South Park meets gritty Eastern Europe
Familiar South Park technology set in a Budapest ghetto, to outline a Romeo and Juliet type story between the offspring of two rival gangs. The plot is not the strongest: the main storyline follows how local school kids in the Dangerous Minds mold scheme to make some money, because money gets girls. They bet on oil, find a way to get it and set off a craze to control the revenue. The two rival gangs, local politicians, George Bush, the Pope and even Osama Bin Laden get involved. Even with the sometimes flawed plot, the smart dialog and sharp characterizations carry the movie, although it may be difficult for non-Hungarians to grasp all the references to Budapest urban folklore. There's a bit of singing and rapping, but that really doesn't get in the way. Good fun and a brave film.