Jancsó’s Hungarian films of the 1970s continued the extreme stylisation that had featured in his work of the previous decade but moved further away from naturalism and realism. Peter Hames undertakes a detailed analysis of three of them. For British cinephiles of the 1960s and 70s, London’s Academy Cinemas in Oxford Street were a key port of call. Alongside a … Read more
Film Criticism
Interview with Miklós Jancsó
Jancsó is often perceived of as a very “Hungarian” director, with a love of history and a dislike for montage. The octagenarian director tells Andrew James Horton about his Romanian roots and affinities with Jewish culture, why he gave up on history 20 years ago only to come back to it in his latest film and the reason he no … Read more
Portrait of Miklós Jancsó
Jancsó is a giant of world cinema, yet his works are rarely seen and much of his oeuvre languishes in total obscurity. Andrew James Horton introduces Kinoeye’s special focus on Jancsó with an overview of the director’s stylistic and thematic development. Miklós Jancsó suffers an unusual fate in film history. His name is frequently mentioned in film history books, he … Read more
Interview with István Szabó
Szabó, through films such asMephisto, has become not only one of Hungary’s foremost directors but a major international figure in film.Necati Sönmez met him in India to talk about making compromises, why Hollywood is central European and defining European culture. István Szabó in his latest film Taking Sides?Der Fall Furtwängler (2002) follows on in the tradition of his “central European trilogy” of the … Read more
Analysis of Hukkle
Being a fan of central European?and especially Hungarian?film can a bit depressing at times. Deep, introspective works of the “miserablist” tendency are common and the comedies are often slight, derivative pieces that seem better suited to television than the big screen. György Pálfi’s Hukkle (2002), however, will come as a welcome breath of fresh air, being a fresh and original debut that … Read more
Analysis of The Bridgeman
The release date for Géza Bereményi’s A Hídember (The Bridgeman, 2002), a treatment of the life of Hungarian count, philanthropist and reluctant revolutionary István Széchenyi, had long been known: 11 April 2002. But only after 7 April, the day of the first round of the Hungarian parliamentary elections, did the significance of this timing become evident. Fidesz, the right-wing party whose coalition … Read more
Reviews of Chico
…the audience [at Karlovy Vary] got the message, the jokes were in place, the audience laughed where it was supposed to, and was in deep silence during the tense scenes. Word about the success got around quickly, the film was showed twice with people sitting on the floor. When will Hungarian audiences have the chance to do the same? … Read more
Analysis of Kosovo 2000
Hungarian documentarist Ferenc Moldoványi’s latest film ????-Fëmijët (Kosovo 2000) [2001] attempts to look at two manifestations of inexpressable mystery in the experience of war: the total and seemingly irrational tragedy that it sows in people’s lives and the less commonly explored territory of where such indescribable hate can possibly stem from. The title of Moldoványi’s film is the word for … Read more
Analysis of Daniel Takes a Train
Hungary has, perhaps, of all European countries the most under-rated cinema history. Few nations have managed to produce so many masterpieces and yet receive so little international acclaim for such a rich film heritage. This is, of course, a viscious circle, with the reduced opportunities to view Hungarian cinema leading to less critical writing on the subject, which in turn … Read more
About the films of Béla Tarr
“Who is Béla Tarr?” runs the title of an article in an American film magazine. To the initiated, he is a Hungarian film-maker who has built a growing reputation on the festival circuit with a trio of uncompromising films?Kárhozat (Damnation,1989), Sátántangó(Satan’s Tango, 1994) and Werckmeister harmóniák(Werckmeister Harmonies, 2000), which, particularly with the latter, seem set to mark the first genuine international breakthrough by … Read more
