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World Premier of a Brave New Magyar Comedy  "NO MAN'S ISLAND" IS A WINNER

 by Alex Deleon <filmfestivals.com>

 The peak of  the week was reached early on Wednesday, day number 3,  with the World Premiere of a brand new Hungarian film entitled SENKI SZIGETE, in English "No Man's Island". There are other very recent Films on view this week but all have already been in commercial circulation whereas this film is the only absolutely new revelation of the festival week -- straight out of the can, and what a Revelation! 

SENKI SZIGETE is a dazzling comedic drama -- or dramatic comedy, take your pick, with style and confidence to burn and an ensemble cast where all have their arias and no one tries to upstage anyone else, although some figures stand out a little more than others in an extremely well balanced juggling act of interesting characters.  This is the fourth feature film of 44 year old director Ferenc Török and clearly announces him as a major new force on the reconfigured Hungarian cinema scene. 

A sampling of Budapest elite film society packed the theater lobby with cameramen grinding away, but it was nothing like the old Film Szemle days when an event like this would bring out almost everybody who is anybody.

The most famous face spotted in the crowd was that of now senior director Istvan  Szabo, hanging out with Sándor Pál, legendary producer of the film just shown, and of course the new festival's prime mover, white haired Andy Vajna who is around every day quietly looking things over. Other than that it was primarily People connected with the Sziget film itself, many of whom are "nachwuchs" up-and-comers but the only fully established star I was able to identify from  back in the Szemle era was  actress Judith Schell who had a Key role in tonight's film and has been a major film Star here for close to a decade.  Schell, is no Relation to the once famous Maria Schell but is of equivalent beauty and talent, although her Pretty Woman Sex appeal and flair for comedy place her more in the company of Julia Roberts.

However, to get back to the Main Event of the evening, the film itself, which was presented without subtitles (too new) has plot intricacies that had me baffled here and there, but did not impede the overall perception that this is a high class piece of entertainment, which once it gets the clarifying titles could well become a breakout film onto the world market for Hungary. The last Hungarian film that was a real global success -- (I caught it at a commercial screening in Tokyo!)-- was Szabo's Oscar winning Mephisto, 1981, but that was Hungarian in Name of director only, because the main cast was not Hungarian and the language of the film was German.  In contrast Ference Török's new movie is pure Hungarian all the way, as Hungarian as it gets -- but at the same time as International mainstream as one can imagine.

The essential Plot:

This is basically a modern fairy tale in which a number of young people struggle to fulfill their dreams of getting away to an Unpeopled Island, an imagined Paradise out in the Pacific where one lives peacefully ever after away from the madness and stress of the modern world. In the movie we see the magic island only in a funny model mockup. An unlikely ménage-à-trois develops between a beautiful runaway bride who becomes a skyscraper window washer (!) an unscrupulous female taxi driver who steals a bunch of money from a Mafia boss, and a failed wannabe NBA basketball star who beds down every girl he can gets his hands on. They are soon joined by a sexy older woman who is sitting on her mothers secret fortune but can't access it, and finally by the young bridegroom who was left in the lurch, to make it a kind of ménage-à-cinq at the end.

The feeling us something like an update of Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream with touches of Billy Wilder humor, but the execution is state-of-the-art international entertainment.  

The butch looking cabbie is played by Eszter Bánfalvy, a theater actress with striking off-beat looks, the handsome basketball player is Tamas Mohai, another young theater actor who comes on like a veteran in a rip-roaring film debut, effective and charming --the lady of the treasure is established film star Judith Schell, who doesn't exactly steal scenes, but you can't take your eyes off her when she's there (with that magical golden mascara!) and the runaway bride is Juli Jakab, a model with no film experience, who was cast by director Török because she looked perfect for the part --the camera loves her -- and she looks like a new edition of a very young Grace Kelly with ultra porcelain skin. The film has style, energy, a very colorful mise-en-scene  (pastel shade backgrounds and flying fish), a fast but not runaway pace, grippy situations, and winning performances all around -- even the bad guy looks good (popular Screen and Tv comedic actor András Stohl -- interesting how many Hungarian actors have German names!) -- SO, who could ask for anything more? -- Now all I have to do is see it again with English subtitles so I can make sure I wasn't just seeing things.

Juli Jakab, the runaway bride of  Ferenc Török's "No Man's Island"

The high International reputation of Hungarian cinema from the sixties on was built upon serious political and highly artistic works by a whole contingent of then young New Wave directors --Fábri, Jancsó, Makk, Szabo --serious cinema Art with a vengeance. The current picture is pure entertainment on a scale that could easily sell off the Hungarian shore, and yet maintains the quality production standards that made more serious Hungarian pictures famous in the now distant past.  In addition it is replete with all kinds of spectacular touches and savvy moves  that add up to make it a potential contender in the contemporary film market.  For a  number of years the local film industry has been in the doldrums for a variety of reasons -- withdrawal of government financial backing, political industry infighting, etc. -- with one or two worthy Pictures coming out here and there, but nothing like the steady output of masterpieces and near masterpieces that were almost commonplace in the latter half of the past century.  Signs of New life are now beginning to surface and Ference Török's "No Man's Island" is one of the brighter ones.