Tag: Hungary

As Far as I Know (Legjobb tudomásom szerint)

Posted on by Redmond Bacon

QUICK SNAP: LIVE FROM TALLINN

A smart and perceptive psychological drama, As Far as I Know structures itself around a shocking event, finding its chilling tone through the strength of its two central performances. An indictment of masculine attitudes to female trauma, as well as an absorbing investigation into the Hungarian justice system, it avoids simple conclusions in favour of a complicated reality.

Dénes and Nóra Gabor (Balázs Bodolai and Gabriella Hámori respectively) are expecting a baby. Nóra isn’t carrying it herself, but waiting for the baby to become available through a foundation. When they go for drinks with friends to celebrate the good news, they are interrupted by the fact that one of their friends has become pregnant through conception. A variety of awkward conversations follow, culminating in a very public argument between the couple on a bus. Nóra storms off, followed by a strange passenger. And when she returns home a few hours later, she reveals to Dénes that she has been raped.

With the details of the event hazy, a mere sketch of the perpetrator, and no DNA evidence, there is uncertainty as to whether a convincing case can be proved. Yet instead of providing a conventional thriller, this instigating incident is used as a means to explore the complexity of these two characters, who reveal their prejudices and difficulties throughout. More emphasis is put on Dénes, who immediately focuses on going to the police instead of providing emotional comfort to his wife. His attitude eventually becomes the most interesting part of the movie, as it slowly peels back the layers of his stubborn personality.

While it could be argued that the film flirts with a dangerous trope — that women falsely accuse men of rape in order to get attention — this idea is compensated by this calm and collected style which avoids editorial decisions. Debut directors Nándor Lörincz and Bálint Nagy make use of slow zooms and medium length shots, giving it a surveillance-like feel, approximating the mystery footage that might be able to solve the case.

Draped in cold and autumnal colours, Budapest — even more than when it stands in for Cold War Moscow — has rarely looked so unforgiving. This dispassionate filmmaking style suits the nature of the film, which indicts the unfeeling attitude of the Budapest police and the coldness that sets in between the married couple. This is complemented by a spare and discordant piano soundtrack, cloaking the film in an unsettling noir mood.

What compels these two to be in a relationship in the first place? They both work with focus groups, endlessly listening to men and women as they talk about their needs and their attitudes towards the opposite sex. You’d assume that at least Dénes would be listening in and more attentive to his wife’s needs. This is the real question that haunts every frame of this dark and unsettling film.

As Far as I Know plays as part of the First Feature competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, running from 13th to 29th November.

On Body and Soul (Testről és lélekről)

Posted on by mjbstaging

A forest in winter. Deer. Freedom. The natural world. Untrammelled. Now on to another world. A contrast. Cow feet on a muddy, industrial floor. Animals in an abattoir. They will be killed and become meat for human consumption. This is the contrast underlying On Body and Soul.

Human beings must work in this environment. They must do this job, action this process. Endre (Géza Morcsányi) is the abattoir’s manager. He has a few friends among his colleagues, but he’s basically an introvert happy in his own company and well respected in his job. The company has just taken on a new quality controller in the form of Mária (Alexandra Borbély) and she’s a stickler for following company regulations to the letter. Her inflexible attitude is going to make the business’ financial viability harder and the workforce’s lives more difficult. She isn’t going to be popular.

By contrast, one of the shopfloor workers is a bit of a lad and always larking around with some of his female colleagues. But then, some animal aphrodisiac goes missing and although this particular worker is the main suspect, a psychologist is brought in to interview and profile everyone working in the plant. She thinks someone is taking the mick when, in the course of separately asking both Endre and Mária about their dreams, they both give the same answers. She doesn’t believe it – and neither do they. But it seems the two have been dreaming the very same dream as each other. Dreams of a deer and a doe wandering together in an unspoiled, snow covered forest. Those images we saw at the start and which are developed periodically throughout the film.

Thus the stage is set for an unusual, awkward romance. While others in the slaughterhouse seem to have no problem engaging with members of the opposite sex, Endre would prefer to keep himself to himself. He has a medical condition in one arm, which doesn’t help. Mária is even more isolated: she can cope with cut and dried rules and regulations and make production procedures fit them, but she really doesn’t know how to talk with other people. Both actors deliver extraordinary, compelling performances which suck you into the drama.

Once it gets going, the pair’s painfully slow attempt at a relationship plays out against the cold, industrial, life into lifeless meat work environment on the one hand and the cool, wintry forest-scape with its relaxed, fulfilled deer on the other. Are these misfit lovers something much healthier in their dreams? Or is the waking world in which they live and move deeply out of joint?

An extraordinary, poetic fable set in a world of modern, industrialised, controlled death.

On Body And Soul won the Golden Bear for Best Film earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival. It is out in the UK on Friday, September 22nd. It is available on Mubi from mid-November.