Frigyes Hollósi

Inhabitants of a small village in Hungary deal with the effects of the fall of Communism. The town's source of revenue, a factory, has closed, and the locals, who include a doctor and three couples, await a cash payment offered in the wake of the shuttering. Irimias, a villager thought to be dead, returns and, unbeknownst to the locals, is a police informant. In a scheme, he persuades the villagers to form a commune with him.

The fate of a Hungarian Jewish family throughout the 20th century.

The seeming hopelessness of combatting an all-powerful government that will not tolerate political dissension is the focus of this excellent historical drama set in the mid-19th century in Hungary. In the opening scenes, Hungary has just lost its bid for independence from Austria and a Magyar officer, unable to bear the tragedy of defeat and what it means, says an affectionate good-bye to his beloved horse and then shoots the animal and himself. Two years later, Ferenc (Gyorgy Cserhalmi) is trying to eke out a living for his wife and her family -- and at the same time avoid any hint of sympathy for Hungarian independence because the Secret Police are everywhere. Just as life seems to be going well, Ferenc's former commanding officer (Lajos Oze) arrives and begins discussing revolution again -- a futile pursuit at this point in time. The next day, Ferenc is thrown into an insane asylum and everyone else is arrested as well.

Underrated in light of its current (February 4, 2007) IMDb score of 6.4, this film reminded me of what Joseph Heller's 'Something Happened' could look like if a film was to be made out of it. Our middle-aged character's life is in a fragile balance at the start and soon that balance will, of course, be disturbed. Even without much in the way of drama at first, an at times nightmarish reality intermingles with nightmares, and, typically for a movie from this region, state bureaucracy and the absurdities of a semi-legal order play a role in moving developments along. So what is it that awaits our hero down the informal road he is officially sent? Complete deconstruction? Or the 'unbearable lightness of being'? If you give the movie the time to unfold, it will reward you revealing an entertaining concept by the end.

Kató Kelemen is asked by her father to go to his office and welcome an important business partner of his. When Mr. Andersen arrives he assumes Kató is a secretary and instructs her to deliver a letter. He's about to travel to Venice with his nephew who he has never met before. Since Kató falls in love with Andersen at first sight, she decides to dress like a boy and pretends to be the nephew.

Geri’s life flashes before him in the “Buhera Matrix,” a cringe-worthy slideshow of childhood photos from Pioneer camp to prom night. He relives the absurd clash between Mickey Mouse and socialist youth rituals, debates the perfect horse-chestnut hole size and survives the notorious fruit-game initiation. As the disastrous graduation and its Bavarian-style sacrifices cap off his painfully vivid memories, the film spins forward through Hungary’s late-20th-and-early-21st-century history through the eyes of a ’70s-born generation.

Béla, the bad guy, is released from prison and decides to get back on the right track. But the first person he encounters is his old friend, Feri Buczella, whose brother has just arrived home from America with a suitcase of dollars.

In the summer of 1938, a month after the annexation of Austria and a year before the outbreak of war, the world's diplomats gather for a Refugee Conference in Evian, Switzerland. Here the Nazis send the highly respected Professor Benda, whose task it is to convince the diplomats to buy the lives of half a million Jews from Germany for ten million dollars. But no one, not even the Jewish representatives, can be convinced that the truly diabolical deal - the Germans would use the money to arm themselves - is the only chance to save human lives... The author of the original piece, Hans Habe, himself attended the conference as a young journalist. In his novel, written a quarter of a century later, he explores the world's responsibility.

No synopsis available yet.

In this somewhat uneven political satire, good revolutionaries have overthrown a totalitarian state riddled with corruption on all levels when a truly naive bureaucrat (Boguslaw Linda) is placed on a jury that will judge the results of a history competition. Once on the jury, the young bureaucrat starts looking into the past himself and gets embroiled in a labyrinth. The past may well be unclear because recent leaders have certain facts that need to be kept buried. Filmmaker Janos Kovacsi borrows characteristics from revolutions in the Eastern European block (1950s-1980s) to create this post-revolutionary society with an idealist commander (Ferenc Zenthe) meant to lead them. A clue as to what happens next lies in the opening scene -- the funeral of the commander who has given his life for his cause. Ironically, Kovacsi undoubtedly faced censorship on this film. That would not only account for some uneven narration, but it adds a dimension of reality to the topic at hand.

No synopsis available yet.

In 1960s Hungary, an introverted teenager’s life is turned upside down by a few days in the company of his coat hanger salesman uncle: a roguish charmer with a zest for life and a weakness for horse racing and women.

Peter falls in love with Lena, a Bulgarian female student in the days of the 1956 revolution. They were both involved in the events of the Revolution, enthusiastically recount their experiences of an American journalist. The boy's parents leave the country, but he did not go with them.

Mici, a pretty young girl is a selected swimmer. Laci, her trainer looks after her jealously, mainly because of her condition.

Gruber is a normal 16-year-old growing up in Budapest in 1962, but he has a problem -- how does he get to know the opposite sex? At the Sunday afternoon dance classes the young "ladies and gentlemen" hold each other while dancing, and that makes the lessons worth something. Otherwise, the pianist's attention wanders and the orchestra does not exactly play with a single-minded dedication. In fact, everybody seems to have other things on their minds, except for the enthusiastic dance instructor and his ever-smiling assistant.

No synopsis available yet.

On a single day the fate of three couples are joined and some of them sealed.

The poor but carefree vagabond Johnny meets the princess Árnika and they fall in love. An evil witch casts a spell on them which turns one of them into a duck. In order to be free of the spell they embark on a long journey to meet King Ajahtan Kutarbani, the only one who can lift the spell.

The corrupt leaders of a small rural town learn that an auditor is coming from St Petersburg. Frightened, they try to put things in order. Hlesztakov, a Petersburg official, has been starving for days in his inn in the small town, having gambled away all his money and no credit. In a misunderstanding and a bit of backstabbing, the town's corrupt leaders mistake him for an auditor. The bureau chiefs are watching his every move, and the mayor's daughter is a hit. When he leaves, the whole town celebrates and expects him back for a wedding. But a letter reveals the fraud, and at the same time the real auditor arrives.

Feri is forty-eight years old, twenty-six of which he has worked as a trainee in a screw factory. Workers' spirit, workers' choir, football matches. He's in good shape, though he's put on a little weight, he doesn't go bald, he's a big talker and considers himself a great ladies' man, even though he only used to go for Gizika, the storekeeper, in the factory days. His wife of twenty-six years is Joli, a year older than him. A perpetually dissatisfied woman with a headache. In her heyday, she was an administrator at KÖJÁL, but was demoted because of her diabetes. His hobbies include crocheting, crossword puzzles and long TV series, which he and his girlfriend, hairdresser Icu, regularly discuss. On that particular Saturday morning, when Feri was going fishing and Joli was about to cook stuffed chicken for their wedding anniversary, they had no idea that their lives would change so much that afternoon. This is where our story really begins.

September 1938. Tenants of a Budapest block of flats live their everyday lives, conducted by tradition. World politics does not divide them. Their major experience is the private life of the actress in the house.

Hungary, 1950s. Istvánka is a sensitive little boy, longing for a role model and friendship, whose father died in the war before he was born. Before school starts, his mother takes him from the countryside to the capital. One day, he meets Lacy Márity, a 21-year-old big boy from Budakeszi, who from then on not only goes to play football with him, but also answers his most secret questions. He becomes his friend. Istvánka then becomes more tolerant of the local children's digs and the often incomprehensible behaviour of the adults. But the 1956 revolution intervenes. Laci Márity takes the lead in the rebellion.

The devil arrives in Budapest because he has got wind that a hermit scientist has discovered the elixir of eternal life. Soon the lives of oh-so-some upstanding citizens living in the peace of the peaceful little people are in turmoil. Irén Psota, Zoltán Bezerédy and the unforgettable Buczella brothers.

No synopsis available yet.