The latest movies

The Tale of Despereaux (3 January)

My older daughter entered the cinema age. Last November she saw Magadascar 2 with her mother, so this time it was my turn. She seemed to like Despereaux and I could also tolerate it. It is the usual Hollywood quality that I will have to accept for the coming years, I guess.

Legend

• : Films I really recommend. I am not so much choosy, so quite a few movies receive this mark.
• : Films that you should really avoid. I am rather tolerant, so not very many movies get awarded with it.

Favourites

Best of 2008

A nyomozó

Gigor Attila's first movie is a well-done European art movie. Let me first explain what I mean by using the term "European art movie": these are (mostly, though not exclusively) European movies that differ significantly from Hollywood movies in style (slow-paced story, less action, more atmosphere, more realistic characters, more emphasis on social or individual problems, a bit more experimenting e.g. with the photography, with the story, etc.). However, although the stylistic differences might qive you the illusion of real value, these movies are just as empty as their Hollywood counterparts: no message, no catharsis. Just pure entertainment, albeit for a different audience: instead of teenagers drinking coke in McDonalds looking for action and special visual effects, it is more for university students drinking green tea in a tea-house, looking for the aforementioned stylistic elements. So, this is the field where this movie tries to make an impression. And it succeeds, mostly. There is an excellent start and some interesting characters (a lonely, shy and quite weird anatomist and his wannabie girlfriend). There is a relatively good story with some unexpected twists (experienced viewer may guess them, though). And finally, there is the obligatory "artistic" element, this time taken from Woody Allen (at least I saw similar ideas in his movies): in some points the movie gets surreal by showing the main charatcter's thoughts and dreams: these are probably the best parts of the film. Of course this is not a perfect movie, there are a few inqonsequences in the script, but in summary it is an enjoyable piece. That is, if you like the genre.

Caramel

A French-Lebanese movie. The style (and apparently some of the money) comes from the French: this movie could have been directed by Eric Rohmer or Agnes Jaoui. The story is Lebanese, although it gives an ideal mix of eternal dilemmas and local flavours. The eternal dilemmas are the various female roles and conflicts which you can experience everywhere in the world. The local flavours are provided by the Lebanese environment, which is excitingly mixed itself. It is a country torn by civil wars, as we know from the press, but looks much more peaceful in this movie. Christians and Muslims, Arabs and French-speaking coexist in a natural although perhaps a bit tense manner (proven by the strong presence of the military and the police). Still, the story concentrates on how women face love, loneliness and aging. These are eternal issues but the local patriarchist society gives much less freedom for women in coping with them than in the west. This is mildly criticised by director Nadine Labaki (also playing one of the main roles of the movie) in this refreshing and interesting film.

Best of 2007

Das Leben der Anderen

Mediocrity, thoroughness, morality, power. These words come into my mind after seeing this very German movie, which is otherwise also a great movie. It has agreat atmosphere, giving back the grey world of the DDR: grey buildings, grey Trabants and Wartburgs, grey people, a country ruled by mediocrity even in its colours. Nevertheless, a thorough world: the Stasi thoruoghly maintains the files about the many suspects, the agents thoroughly install the bugs in their flats and thorougly watch them. (Later in the unified Germany they thourougly maintain the very same files and make them open for everyone. A thorough nation, the Germans.) But the Germans also value morality and this is also evident in the movie. The moral awakening causes the otherwise conformist writer to challenge the Communist power and the very same moral attitude causes the much less typical and much less anticipated awakening of the Stasi agent watching the writer. The latter transformation is clearly more exciting, as the grey, mediocre, thorough and lonely Stasi agent, the loyal servant realizes the real nature of the Communist power during the observation of the writer and her wife. In the end he also challenges this power in his own humble way. The story should also be instructive for us Hungarians, as it shows an example of how a nation should handle its dark past. The Germans already did a fairly impressive "brainwash" after WWII to reach a catharsis on the sinful nazi past and they did a similarly impressive moral confrontation in the 90's with their Communist past and the Stasi. I envy them, because we Hungarians have failed in this. The Germans consistently opened all the Stasi files, and allowed everyone to go and see who had been watched and who had been the agents and the informers. In Hungary, this did not happen. What happened instead was that many of the informers became prominent politicians (other professions exposed to the public like artists, journalists, church officials were/are also heavily "infected") and the files were used to blackmail them, or to get rid of them in a few occasions. Not exactly the right way to purify the society. And the society is indeed far from being purified: they just do not really care if it turns out that some prominent person was an informer back in the Communist era. So, when such files come to the public, the former agent just says some weak excuses ("I was forced into this" and " I always tried to defend the people around me" and "I never wrote anything harmful", etc.) and then everything continues as before. This was what happened to Oscar-winner film director István Szabó whose story is particularly striking. An article was published in a weekly uncovering the fact that he was an informer back in the early 60's. His personal post-scandal behaviour is a typical example of trying to get away with feeble excuses. The reaction of the society was an example of accepting these cheap excuses without criticism, just because Szabó was an otherwise famous, talented and popular person, a "nice" guy. And this is a pity: Szabó is one of the few informers who could have stood up and confess his "sins" without losing his authenticity, because Szabó the artist has done the confession. His best films showed how the power can corrupt talented but weak persons, how one can lose one's integrity. He got his Oscar for exploring this very topic in Mephisto, (and he got Oscar nominations for two other similar movies with Brandauer). And then he did confront this issue even more explicitly in Taking sides, too. And he did it in the right way, exposing all the complexity and all the moral issues. So, it is indeed a pity he could not do it in the right way in his personal life. And it is indeed a pity that we Hungarians could not do it the right way.

Pan's Labyrinth

A dark fantasy from a dark period of Spanish history, just after Franco's victory: the main character is a young girl whose father (assumably a republican) died and her mother married an army officer from Franco's army. Her mother loves her but her dominating stepfather does not. Her life is characterized by fear, lack of love and despondency. No wonder she tries to escape into a fantasy world. But in a hopeless, dark world even her fantasy is hopeless and dark. And the times are such that no one can escape from the cruelty of the reality, not even a ten-year old girl.

Dnevnoy Dozor / Daywatch

The second part of a sequel, caught it in Stockholm, hopefully it will come to Hungary later. I loved the first part (see Nightwatch) and I love this one. Original story, frenetic gags, spectacular effects and an "exotic" Russian touch make this a cult film.

Best of 2006

Children of men

Something is wrong. Humankind is heading to a catastrophy. Whether it is WWIII or some climatic catastrophe due to global warming or both, that we do not know. But something is wrong, that's for sure. At least this is how many people feel and this movie is just another sign of that wide-spread feeling. In this dark antiutopian sci-fi humankind loses its fertility completely, the reason is not known: no children are born any more. Britain is falling into military dictatorship under the pressure of terrorist groups and the huge influx of refugees, while the rest of the world is already in chaos. This is the setting of this movie and it may sound boring. But the film is everything but boring. It shows a creative blend of what we have now and what we could have tomorrow. And it conveys the hopeless feeling that this is what we are heading to. A powerful and worrying vision. BTW, Alfonso Cuaron is a great director to watch to. I first saw his Sólo con tu pareja, a great and insightful comedy. Then he directed the best Harry Potter. And now this, the most remarkable of his movies, so far.

Kebab Connection

Germany's answer to My big fat greek wedding. In fact, I like this one even better. First, it gives you the "usual" multicultural gags. Then, one of the main characters is a young wannabie film director who is a kungfu film fan and thus the movie contains a lot of parodical scenes reminding to kungfu film classics. But not only kungfu is parodised: even the a famous scene from Bronenosets Potyomkin reappears here.

Where the Truth Lies

When this movie was presented in Hungary, I briefly reviewed the story and some of the critics and decided that it was not for me, despite being an Egoyan movie and despite receiveing good comments. Then, during a visit to Helsinki I had a three hours empty slot on my last day and decided to go to a cinema. This movie was practically the only available option and I decided to go for it. I did not regret it. This is a story about the fifties and the beginning of the era of mass media. Stars are already made by television but the society still maintains its old pre-60s conservativism, at least on the surface. The main characters are a duo of entertainers who are on top of their career. There is no limit for them and they behave accordingly: having girls in every town, sometimes beating up people they dislike, using drogs and so on. All of this without consequences: they are superstars and the media machinery ensures that their superstar status is not disturbed. However, once they make a mistake (incolving a dead girl found in their hotel room) and although their career is not broken immediately, the case still destroys their personal relationship and eventually leads to the break of the duo and a decline of their careers. While the story is still not somtehing very close to me (and thus my initia assessment of not wanting to see it was more or less right) I have to admit that it is very well directed and acted and its atmosphere will probably have a longer term effect on me. Also, what it tells you about the darker side of mass media and stardom is exciting, even though it shows the effect not on the ordinary people but on the starts themselves.

Matchpoint

The latest Woody Allen movie is a modern blend of some career stories by Balzac and Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment (or rather, the lack of Punishment). Quite a good movie, perhaps better than most of the recent Woody Allen movies I have seen, probably because this time this was not a comedy. Another recent thread in his movies is criticism towards high society. (This was already evident in Small time crooks). High society still manages to separate from the rest of the crowd: even though the main character is allowed into the family, this is exceptional. It is considered as bringing in some "new blood" and the selection is based on strict criteria, a key one of those is the ability to submit and adapt.

Best of 2005

Der Untergang (The very best of the year...)

Bruno Ganz is perfect as Hitler! This fact alone would make the movie worth seeing, but there is more than that. It as a precise account of how the madness ruled in the last days of Hitler reign: how he let the country suffer and when he realized that inevitable end, how he said that Germans did deserve the fall. The film showed a lot of futile deaths: ten year old recruits falling in the streets of Berlin fighting against the Russians, deserters shot by Gestapo patrols. It also showed Hitler's power over the people who still obeyed him and many of them also followed his example and commited suicide in the last days. Perhaps the most shocking was Frau Gobbels, who murdered of her six children, saying that it was not worth living in a world without nazism. All in all, the film was shocking and it gave you a strong warning: beware fanatic dictators!

Dallas Pashamende (The "Hungarian movie of the year" category)

Great movie with great performances! Even the story (the usual weak point of Hungarian movies) managed to capture me, although in retrospect it seems rather calculable and builds too much on usual cliches. The major strength of the movie is its atmosphere, built up by the shocking images of the gipsy ghetto and the amatuer (well, they seem so real that I think they give themselves) cast. Also, roma communities are known for their lively and dominantly happy "southern" character, despite the poor conditions they live in: this is also shown here. I am sure that it takes more than this movie to make progress in emancipating the Romas of Central and Eastern Europe, but this movie certainly raises your understanding of these exploited people living "ganz unten".

Nochnoy dozor / Night Watch (The "Hollywood movie of the year" category)

The empire strikes back. The Russians, after losing the cold war, try to challenge the US in one of their dominant domains: film making. They probably have a long way to go, but the effort is indeed remarkable: this movie has all the ingredients for a reasonable success among sci-fi/fantasy circles. Imaginative visual effects, creative, well-written and fast paced story and good acting. The story is even written as a trilogy, so stay tuned for the next part! Even the promotion of the movie is fairly professional, although that actually proves that perhaps the Americans already know how to handle this new Russian "threat". They simply buy the talent: the film is distributed internationally by 20th Century Fox.

Comme une image

After praising Le gout des autres so much, it was obvious that I must see Agnes Jaoui's new movie. I am not disappointed: this film is as exciting and charming as the previous one. It seems that the main thread of her movies is about how people seek unrealistic goals in their personal relations and how difficult it is for them to realize (if at all possible) that they could easily find happiness by trusting and loving some other people around them.

Broken Flowers

This is a movie that has a long-term effect. At first sight, it is a slow-paced, seemingly boring story lacking excitement and emotions. However, after a while, you realize how much you learn about different ways you can lead (or could have led) your life, the different values that can make you happy (or unhappy). The main character is a rich middle-aged man who has no family and no intention to get one. Suddenly he receives a letter which tells him about an unknown son. After some hesitation, he embarks on a trip to meet his old girlfriends and to find his son. By meeting the girlfriends, he is confronted with the various ways their lives have failed and he slowly seems to realize how his own life is a failure. The more he travels, the more he wants to find his son, as if an eventual meeting could turn a failed life into a meaningful one. At least, this is my interpretation, although I think that the story is quite enigmatic and thus is open to some other interpretations.

Best of 2004

Les Invasions Barbares

I saw a Canadian movie titled Le Déclin de l'empire américain, about 18 years ago. I can hardly recall the story, I only remember that it was a typical French conversational movie, a'la Eric Rohmer: a couple of friends gathered for a dinner at a lakeside house and chat about their adventures (mostly sexual), their emotions, thoughts and wishes. The title added special spice as its "political" nature conflicted with the seemingly unrelated, peaceful and personal atmosphere, at least at first sight. To be honest, I cannot remeber whether I managed to understand the "message" of this second layer, I must have dedicated some time to think about it, but the result - if any - is hiding in some dark corners of my brain. Still, despite all the fading details, I do remember that it was amongst the best movies I had ever seen. So, I was eager to see the new "20 years after" part of the story, when I learnt that 'Les Invasions Barbares' is based on the that earlier gem I praise so much. I will now praise the new part as well: the story is less idyllic as it is about the death of one of the characters of the former story. The film presents not only how his family and his friends support him and try to make him pass away in an "ideal" way, but it also gives a much more critical picture about society: the only way for a human being to die in this ideal way is to have someone with a lot of money and a lot of determination to create the conditions. Otherwise people are put into run-down hospitals and left with some strangers (other people dying, maybe) in a crowded room. I would say that the first part twenty years ago was stronger in the "conversational" part and in presenting personal relationships: this new movie was somewhat schematic, as it could not really go beyond cliches in presenting how the people react to the coming death of their close friend. However, the social message was much stronger this time. A corrupt society and a neglected healthcare system is presented in a society ruled exclusively by money. This is a somewhat usual message of Central-European movies, but it is quite shocking to see it in the "heart of the empire". (Well, obviously Canada is not so much the "heart of the empire", but it is generally considered a happy and rich country by us "poor" Hungarians used to a corrupt society and a neglected healthcare system...)

Szezon (The "Hungarian movie of the year" category)

I saw four local movies this year and the selection was very strong. Kontroll was the other main contender, but finally I picked this one: it is a new piece from the director of Moszkva tér. The movie tells the story of three boys working as waiters in various places of Hungary. The story is uneventful and simple, just like the life of the main characters. Hopelessness and humiliation are the keywords here and the atmosphere of the movie perfectly reflects this. A strong movie.

Lost in Translation

Travelling abroad, especially in an exotic country of a strange, sometimes embarrassing and puzzling culture places the traveller into a special state of mind. The two main characters of this film experience this: in their home environment they would probably pass each other without noticing, but being lost in a strange world they discover the similarities in each other's way of thinking and in each other's life. They become attracted to each other, but their relation has no future back home as they they both have their own family. This is the story of this slow-paced movie, which has an overwhelming atmosphere conveyed by beautiful photography and very good acting.

Big Fish

Tim Burton's movie is very personal and very American: a charming imaginary world created by a father confronts with the down-to-earth son, who simply thinks the father is telling lies. While an average Hollywood movie would bomb us with the banal message that we can fulfil our dreams if we try and work hard, Tim Burton says that perhaps we are what we dream even if these dreams never come true. And perhaps simply by dreaming we already change our world. Perhaps this is the very same American message, but at least Burton manages to present it in a non-banal way.

Best of 2003

Mies vailla menneisyyttä

Great movie from Aki Kaurismaki! A ballad from a man hit on his head, losing his memory and starting a new life in the very bottom of Helsinki's society. Two trivial messages, both made authentic by the story: first, an optimistic belief that if you work hard and are a bit lucky, then you can find your way out from the worst situations. The other message is the sympathy towards the poor and criticque towards the rich. Again, trivial these may seem, the movie presents them with power. The film otherwise features the usual strength of Kaurismäki's movies: simple, laconic dialogs spiced with deadpan humour.

All or nothing

Mike Leigh's latest masterpiece! A film about people with the usual dull lives of working class people that offers no prospect. A film about people who can only survive these dull lives if they are able to find someone to love.

Kelj fel komám, ne aludjál

Jancsó's fourth "Kapa and Pepe" story, and I am just wondering why I have missed the first three (something to change...). The film's style strongly reminds me to the frenetic Legkisebb film a legnagyobb magyarról, featuring the very same fresh, sarcastic and saucy humour, that perhaps concentrates a bit too much on gags and a bit too little on a consistent story. Even the topic is similar, the nationalistic way Hungarians see their own history. The style favours shorter movies and sometimes l'art pour l'art gags try to fill the empty minutes. At the same time Jancsó uses the traditional tools of a director in a much more professional way (not a surprise, I guess) and he also has stuff for you to think about. The result is a fresh and innovative movie. I wish I had such a fresh and open spirit at the age of 81! The music by Bëlga and Kispál és a Borz is also frenetic!

Best of 2002

Sĺnger frĺn andra vĺningen (The very best of the year...)

Go and see it! This film makes you probably sad and depressed, but it is a wonderful and touching movie about the misery of human life in modern societies: the ultimate loneliness and hopelessness, which we do not like to think of, but have to face. As the film is based on poetry (by the to me unknown Cesar Vallejo), it does not have a straightforward story. Rather, it is a collection of scenes that all move you at an emotional level, as you see the vulnerability of all the people. The film is moving from reality towards surrealism, although you could see the strong surrealistic pictures as the real and hidden nature of our society, which fails to offer any help to these eternal problems. Perhaps Brazil is another rare example of such a consistent, talented and unique vision that is strange and fantastic but it conveys something fundamental about our own world at the same time. I actually went to see this movie again so that I could grasp more from its symbolism, enjoy its excellent and unique film-making, and last but not least to feel it again. This film does not give you hope, but perhaps it makes you more sympathetic to other people, let them be alcoholics, immigrants, old, stupid, mentally ill or just simple "boring philistines".

Hukkle (The "Hungarian movie of the year" category)

The life of a small and poor Transdanubian village is presented in "the movie of noises". Dead and live matter, plants, animals and human beings are all shown as part of a greater unity. Noise is everything here: wind and water, cars and carriages, pigs, cats and moles, human activities like preparing food in the kitchen or the beat of sewing machines in a workshop are all equally important in the well composed symphony of noises. As a consequence, human actors do not speak: more precisely they occasionally do but we cannot hear what they say and their speech is just part of the noise. As the wonderfully photographed scenes advance in a slow pace, a dark and sad human ballad unfolds. The seemingly idyllic pictures hide a sick and hopeless local society where men are mostly useless and unemployed, where wifes poison their husband (and accidentally others) and where all this is accepted as a fact of life. The story ends with the desperate expression of the local policeman who - although he is aware of all this - cannot decide what to do as practically all women (including his mother) is involved in the murders. This is indeed a very strong movie, especially if you consider that it is the debut of a young director. The style, the visual and musical language is innovative and captures the viewer. I am not sure that the extreme story (the series of the murders) is really in place, perhaps a simpler, more down-to-earth story would have been a better choice, although I accept that the contrast of the dark and shocking story and the idyllic pictures adds extra and needed spice to the film.

Taking sides

Art vs. politics; the ethical dilemmas of talented artists when politics approaches them; this has always been István Szabó's favourite topic. Already the Oscar-winner Mephisto featured a talented actor selling his soul to the Nazis. This time the story is based on real-life events: while most of his colleagues fled the country, Wilhelm Furtwängler, this truly exceptional conductor stayed in Germany during the Nazi era and continued his career with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. This "collaboration" provoked strong accusations after the war. The film is the story of the investigation by the American post-war authorities to decide whether the accusations of collaboration are valid. The film presents two ethical answers. The first one is stated by the American officer (played excellently by Harvey Keitel), who believes that Furtwängler is morally guilty, as he accepted a shining career from the Nazi's hand. The second answer is presented by Furtwängler himself who tries to defend himself by stating that in order to help (by "help" he both meant practical assistance - as he did save many Jews during the war - and a spiritual message - as he claimed that his music maintained the inner good in his nation's soul even in the time of Evil) he had to compromise with the Nazis, but he never really collaborated with them. The film itself (despite its title) does not take side, although it seems to sympathize with Furtwängler as an artist and generally presents the American officer as an ignorant and illiterate person. However, as the investigation proceeds, this aggressive and obnoxious person asks questions that are very hard to answer: is it acceptable to make such a compromise with a regime that kills 6 million Jews? Is it really so that Furtwängler made the compromise with the idea of helping people in need? Or rather, did he make it to advance his career? The film has triggered exciting conversations with my friends who have differing opinions. I think these lengthy talks are the best proof that this is an excellent film and it has achieved its aim. The story has several layers (I particularly liked the way differences of American and German cultures are presented), the characters are exciting and well played: if you like thought-provoking movies, go for this one! (Read more about Furtwängler's story!)

Dayereh (The "Iranian movie of the year" category)

After last year's discovery of Iranian movies, I hurried to see this movie. I was not disappointed after the screening: this movie is less poetic than the earlier ones but its simple story gives a very powerful account of women's life in Iran. This is a sad and rather hopeless life that starts with the unwelcome birth of baby girls, continues with the many abandoned girl children and culminates with the limited options and freedom women have in their life. We can watch not only how the tragedies of the the main female characters are unfolding but we can also see the humiliating way women are treated by men in their everyday life. I don't want to fall into the usual ignorant Western attitude towards Islamic societies, but this movie was made by Iranians, so it seems that even in Iran there are some people who think that something is wrong with the social status of women in their society. I also want to stress that the more I think of this movie, the more I like its film-making as well: the acting is excellent, the script is perfect (and even fast-paced, if you don't expect car races or fist fights as a proof of fast-pacedness...), every scene adds something new to the story. The film's message is conyeyed to the viewer not only via the story itself: the photography, the close-ups and the cutting powerfully strengthens it.

The Iranian movies I have seen so far:
• Bad ma ra khahad bord
• Gabbeh
• Dayereh
• Badkonake sefid
• Raye makhfi

Traffic (The "Hollywood movie of the year" category)

An unusual look at drog traffic between Mexico and the US. Although the film seemingly concentrates on the traditional and hopeless war between drog kartells and the police, it suggests that drog use is based on the crisis in the society and in the families. The solution (if any) must also come from the society and the families trying to prevent the hopeless situations in which people turn to drogs: building a baseball ground or listening to what your daughter says may be more important than eliminating a drog kartell. The film is extremely well done: small stories build up the bigger picture, the characters look real characters (played extremely well), and I very much liked the photography.

Best of 2001

Bad ma ra khahad bord and Gabbeh

Movies from Iran: not much action, but a lot of poetry. Simple and enigmatric at the same time, these pieces belong to the most wonderful and powerful movies I have seen in recent years.

Le gout des autres

This is a wonderful movie. Agnes Jaoui's movie slighty reminds me to Eric Rohmer's style, although the story is less idyllic than in his movies (times are less idyllic, I believe). Of course this is not simply a "Rohmer copy", far from that. It tells us how people search for happiness and how easily they fail in their search. They may fail because they trust each other too much, or they may fail because they don't trust each other enough. They may fail, because they have prejudices against other people, even though they are the ones who claim themselves free of prejudices.

Moszkva tér

Alhough (in retrospect) this movie is not so good as the other ones listed in this section, I wanted to honour at least one Hungarian movie: this year I saw more local movies than earlier and I found many of them quite good.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Well, I wanted a Hungarian movie here and I wanted a Hollywood movie as well. Here is my choice: this is a wonderfully directed, photographed and played movie. It is also a great story. The exotic touch adds some extra spice, but it is really a minor factor. Although this movie received "only" four Oscars and thus came behind Gladiator (the other contender of the same epic genre) in this year's Oscar race, they are not in the same category in my opinion: Gladiator is pure entertainment whereas this movie is real art.

Ŕ la verticale de l'été

A Vietnamese movie, a rare phenomenon in Hungarian cinemas. It is a bit strange in the beginning that all those Vietnamese characters speak French (obviously caused by the French cooperation in the making of this movie), but otherwise this is not the only French influence in the movie: this could have been a typical French story about the eternal problems of one's private life, love, marriage, deception, the search of happiness.

Best of 2000

Underground

This film definitely belongs to the best movies I have ever seen. It is a shocking and surrealistic story about the history of Yugoslavia and it shows the charming but self-destructive temperament that is so characteristic to the people of the Balkan (unfortunately I cannot claim that Hungary would be entirely free from this madness, although my prideful countrymen get usually offended if anyone dares to suggest that we have anything common with the Balkan). After seeing the movie I browsed through the related IMDB user comments. Not surprisingly the film wakes strong sentiments and controversial opinions among the viewers, especially among those who come from the region. One statement expressed by many is that you need to live in the Balkan to understand (and appreciate) the story. I disagree with this: the magic of this movie is strong enough to capture you, whatever background you may have. Your interpretation may depend on your background, but that is always the case with any piece of art. (To add a somewhat ignorant and cynical remark: maybe non-locals are not be able to understand the movie, but locals definitely don't seem to be able to learn from it.)

Dogma95

Dogma95 is not a movie: it is an initiative by some Danish (hm, at least I think they are all Danish) directors. It is about making movies without "cheating": the basic idea is not to allow special effects when making the movie. The meaning of "special effect" is driven to an extreme end and includes not only those computer generated "Star Wars effects" visible only in the most expensive Hollywood movies, but also the everyday effects present in every film: music, lighting, studios, costumes, camera stands, and so on. This principle is taken seriously: the director of the third Dogma movie confesses that once he covered a window with a black drape and (as being a "lighting effect") he considered this as a breach of the rules. I think the basic idea is that a good story and good acting is what counts, not some fancy effects that amaze you for the moment but in fact cover an empty and meaningless film. I do not think that following Dogma's rules is the only way to make good and meaningful movies, but I certainly find it a honorable effort (well, the only way I can actually honour the idea is that I will look for Dogma movies). Dogma does not seem to be an initiative that is spreading like wildfire. Still, quite a few Dogma movies have been internationally acclaimed pieces collecting awards. This will probably keep the idea alive for a while and bring us some good pieces of cinema.

The Dogma95 movies I have seen so far:
• Festen
• Idioterne
• Mifunes sidste sang
• Italiensk for begyndere
• Se til venstre, der er en Svensker

Ogniem i mieczem / With Fire and Sword

This is a very good costume epic that comes from Poland. It is based on a wonderful novel from the famous Polish writer Sienkiewicz and the story captures the soul of a nation. The film manages to convey this to the audience. I enjoyed every moment of this romantic but also humorous movie! Go for it, if you can!

American Beauty

The late Oscar winner is a surprisingly good movie from Holywood. It is not only the well-written script and the very fine performances (with the well-deserved Oscar for Kevin Spacey in the lead): this time there is some catharsis at the end. This movie wants to tell you something and it even manages to do so.

Buena Vista Social Club

This is a documentary about the people behind the Grammy-winner Buena Vista Social Club album. Three components make this movie excellent: the wonderful music, the glamourous characters (almost all of them old, forgotten Cuban musicians) and the enchanting pictures of the wonderful but extremely poor and neglected city of Havana. The contrast between Cuba's closed (and despite all misery somewhat idyllic) world and the glitters of the busy western world adds special spices to this movie.

Best of 1999

Summer of Sam

This is a must: a powerful story from Spike Lee. Quite the same atmosphere is in Do the right Thing. Shows the darker side of The Big Apple. (See the Spike Lee link!)

Play-time

A gem from Jacques Tati: a slapstick-like movie from the sixties about how strange the modern world is. This is an excellent movie!

Rikos ja rakkaus / Crime and love

The most frenetic comedy I have seen for years! Based on a Finnish theatre play, it has an original story with a lot of unexpected turns (smuggled vodka turning out to be water, blackmailing and counter-blackmailing, etc.) funny characters (including a corrupt police inspector with some pikant sexual habits, a hypocrite priest, the not-really-bright police constable and others). Perfect entertainment!

A few earlier favourites (in no particular order)

• Brazil
• Trois couleurs: Rouge
• Romeo and Juliet by Franco Zeffirelli

Directors (in no particular order):

Many of the links below are maintained by fans as a free-time activity, so I cannot guarantee their availability (or correctness, for that matter). If you need reference information (biography, filmography, etc.) about these directors, I recommend The Internet Movie Database.

• Gábor Bódy
• István Szabó
• János Szász
• Andrej Tarkovskij
• Jiri Menzel
• Krzysztof Kieslowski
• Andrzej Wajda
• Rainer Werner Fassbinder
• Wim Wenders
• Bille August
• Lars von Trier
• Aki Kaurismaki
• Ingmar Bergman
• Pedro Almodóvar
• Luc Besson
• Luis Bunuel
• Jacques Tati
• Eric Rohmer
• Kenneth Branagh
• Mike Leigh
• Ken Loach
• Peter Greenaway
• Terry Gilliam (and the Monty Python group)
• Charlie Chaplin
• Robert Altman
• John Cassavetes
• Hal Hartley
• John Waters
• Spike Lee
• Wong Kar Wai
• Akira Kurosawa

Directories and Other Links:

• The Internet Movie Database
• Sundance
• The Rough Cut
• Mafilm, offering a picture database of Hungarian movies
• Filmkultúra, a magazine of the Hungarian Filminstitute
• The Finnish Film Foundation
• The Finnish Film Archive and its cinema: Orion