Editor

EPISTLE 2 FROM BUDAPEST

DAY 2, Tuesday, October 24, 2014

Athletes in Exile, Dogs on a Rampage and an Unlikely elderly Star

  By Alex Delonian. <filmfestivals.com>

The first full day of the MAGYAR FILMHÉT was a busy one, 

Three interesting films, all in the big hall, one good rap with a director, and generally 

Meeting people and getting a feel for this newly modified once regular Budapest film event.

Film  number one was a great discovery. I was told it would be a doc about famous Hungarian

Soccer (Futbol) Heroes, but it turned out to be much more than that and I had a nice chat

With the Director, Tibor Kocsis,  following the screening in the buzzing Lobby. Ran into several People who recognized me from CINEFEST in Miskolc, and also a lady with Perfect English, Ágnes Hava, who is chief executive of the Hungarian National Film Fund and currently the  chief spokesman for Hungarian Cinema at Major Festivals such as Karlovy Vary -- in short, one if the prime movers in the campaign to get Hungarian cinema back to where it once belonged.

The Second film, WHITE GOD (Fehér Isten) is all about dogs and dogcatchers but it's no 'Lassie Come Home' -- more a surreal Tale of Mans Best Friend in collective Rebellion against his two legged Masters.  13 year-old Lili fights to protect her pet Hagen from the dog butchers. She is devastated when her father eventually sets Hagen free on the streets. Still innocently believing that love conquers all she ....

Won a Prize at Cannes but left the audience too stunned to applaud here. First Film I've ever Seen where not A dog, like Lassie -- but Canines in General, are the stars. In a weird way it reminded me of Planet of the Apes. Definitely not a feel good film but a one-of-a-Kind thought provoker.   I had to sort of hide from it by taking Cat naps along the way and came out not really being able to say that I thought it was 'good or bad' -- but certainly not indifferent.  It is clearly meant to be seen as a metaphor for all the madness and Power Games at loose in the world today, but it is so realistically presented that it just exists for what it is -- a girl musician and her dog and their problems with the crazy dogcatchers and music teachers ... And on that level it's pretty scary -- almost a horror flick.

The big question is, how did director Kornel Mundruczo get all these dogs to do exactly what he wanted them to do on screen.  Mind bender.

Director Mundruczó Kornél and his two stars, HAGEN, and Psotta Zsofia at Cannes

The Third film of the day, the Nightcap that ended around Ten thirty, was Janos Szasz' arty WW II period Epic, "The Notebook" (A nagy füzet), the only really big Hungarian film of 2013, that I have been hoping to catch up with all year.  Classically filmed as are all of János's films, but a harrowing tale of two teenage twin boys who are left by their mother with an extremely stout, blunt, and tough-as-nails grandmother out in the country so they can survive the war. Left me drained -- the kind of drain You feel after taking an emotional roller coaster ride through a fully satisfying picture. Details later, but thus is one of the new recent Hungarian biggies.  Heavy set 69 year old actress Piroska Molnár, who is memorable from her very first scene in the picture playing the estranged acid-tongued country grandmother, is currently one of the busiest "Leading ladies" in magyar pictures. She was equally memorable in the highly controversial Hungarian Film Szemle winner TAXIDERMIA in 2006, and Will also be seen here this week in the lead role of the surrealistic chiller FREE FALL.

Sixty-nine year old actress Piroska Molnár is living Proof that You don't have to look like Scarlett Johansson to be a star -- gobs of outrageous talent can be enough and this gal has it.

 The Football film is known as "Hungarians For Barça" where Barça is the nickname of the Barcelona FC (football club) probably the most popular in all of Europe. The director is Tibor Kocis who has a long documentary track record and speaks fluent English. What Kocsis does is follow the lives,  careers,  and families of three postwar Hungarian Soccer stars who are more famous in Spain  than they are here because, to get away from Communism they built entire careers playing in Spain for the Barcelona club where they were absolutely idolized. But, again, this is far more than a Sportsumentary because it's more about the personalities of these magnificent athletes in self imposed exile, how they took worship in a foreign country in stride, and answered to a higher human purpose. This is a real heartfelt and heartwarming film and you don't really need to know anything about European soccer or Hungary itself to relate to it. I just loved it and Kocsis will be ringing this marvelous picture -- a documentary that is more like a lesson in life than a documentary -- to Los Angeles soon for the L.A. Hungarian film festival. Make absolutely sure not to miss it.

That's it for now, gotta hit the hay -- tomorrow is another big day, and thus time I'll bring My iPad along to take Pictures