Jancsó’s latest addition to the recent successful “Pepe and Kapo” series of films sees the heroes travel back in time to a fateful date in European history. Andrew James Horton argues that the director has never been more involved in contemporary politics. With each successive film in the “Pepe and Kapo” series, of which A Mohácsi vész (The Battle of … Read more
Film Criticism
Analysis of Dad Would Have a Fit
Sas has flipped back and forth between near-experimental art house works and unbearable mainstream mush. Andrew James Horton finds his latest commercial film to be a convincing popular work, despite being marketed at teenaged girls. The career of Tamás Sas in Hungary has been as erratic as that of Gus van Sant in Hollywood, veering from art house chamber drama … Read more
Interview with Béla Tarr
The acclaimed master of the long take explains to Phil Ballard why his films aren’t bleak, don’t count as cinema and are inspired by Breugel and why Tarkovsky is just “too nice” for him. Béla Tarr views himself as an outsider?both of the trappings of any political or social structure and also of the film community. Starting in the late … Read more
Stalinism in Hungarian cinema
The cinema of Hungary, like other Central European states, is recognised as carrying a strong tradition of both realism and social commentary. This has been shaped by the political events which swept the country after the Second World War: the authoritarian state led by Mátyás Rákosi and the Hungarian Communist Party and the struggle for liberation in 1956, which still … Read more
Portrait of Katalin Karády
Few Hungarian writers during the first half of the 20th century enjoyed as much popularity and success as Lajos Zilahy (1891 – 1974). He was a man of prodigious literary talents: he wrote poetry, short stories, plays, and novels. Journalism was another area which drew his attention and he served as the editor of several influential periodicals and newspapers. Zilahy … Read more
Interview with Gyula Hernádi
Hernádi discusses with Graham Petrie why the critics have given his scripts for Jancsó more problems than the Communist regime has and defends their work against accusations of repetitiveness. The novelist Gyula Hernádi first collaborated with director Miklós Jancsó on a script in the early 1960s and he has worked on almost all Jancsó’s films since. In recent years, he … Read more
Analysis of The Lord’s Lantern in Budapest
Jancsó’s career rebounded in the late 1990s with a work that won him instant recognition from the critics and found him a new, young audience. Andrew James Horton looks at the first of the films to feature Pepe and Kapa. Miklós Jancsó is possibly the most famous and most highly regarded Hungarian director of all time. His reputation rests on … Read more
Jewish themes in the films of Miklós Jancsó
Jancsó’s recurring interest in Jewish culture is one aspect of his work that has consistently been overlooked by most critics?including Hungarian ones. György Báron reflects on the director’s hitherto unrecognised obsession. “Jewish themes”? Let’s put the term in quotes, because what would count as a “theme”? The Hungarian-themed Szegénylegények (The Round Up, 1965)? The Russian (Soviet) Csillagosok katonák (Red and … Read more
The year of 1919 in the films of Miklós Jancsó
Jancsó’s films are frequently set in obscure moments of the past, such as 1919, suggesting a degree in European history is needed to understand their context. Andrew James Horton argues that Jancsó is really not that interested in the past at all and merely uses it as a backdrop for timeless and mythic struggles. Miklós Jancsó is commonly perceived, particularly … Read more
Analysis of Private Vices, Public Virtues
Vizi privati, along with other Jancsó films made in Italy, has either been ignored or derided. Rolland Man argues that this is not just a “naughty” film but a compelling analysis of how rebels without a cause are doomed to fail. The “Italian period” of Miklós Jancsó’s output is very often ignored or treated in a few words by critics … Read more
