Dezso Garas Movies

Károly Makk is reunited with actors Ivan Darvas and Mari Töröcsik in the drama A Long Weekend in Pest and Buda. After being forced to leave Hungary 45 years earlier, Ivan (Darvas) gets word that the woman he left behind, Mari (Töröcsik), is dying. He breaks a promise to himself and travels back to the country. Without telling his wife the real reasons for his trip, Ivan arrives in modern Hungary to find that Mari is not only interested in a trip down memory lane, but that he has a daughter he never knew about. Makk, Darvas, and Töröcsik worked together previously in 1971's Szerelem (Love). ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

This Hungarian anthology is comprised of three unconnected short films by different directors that are united in their grim assessment of Hungary in the 1990s. The first, "Fire! Fire! ("Egavaros, Egahazis") is by Pal Sandor and portrays Budapest as a depressing hell on earth filled with desperately hungry homeless people who would sacrifice their lives for a crust of bread. Sandor's Budapest is frequently compared to Sodom and Gomorrah and in the a huge fire destroys it all. Karoly Makk's "Hungarian Pizza" is infused with ironic humor and offers an only slightly less grim view of a pair of starved homeless people (one of whom was a college professor) who hold a family living in a Budapest apartment hostage for a freshly delivered pizza. Negotiations ensue, but the story ends with bloodshed. Miklos Jancso makes fun of his reputation for creating exceptional visuals in "The Great Brain Death." It is the most difficult vignette and while visually stunning, remains difficult to decipher. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This lightweight Hungarian comedy chronicles the return of an expatriate who has been away for over 38 years. When the Russians invaded Hungary in 1956, 14-year old Tamas Gordon fled the country. But for a case of mumps, he took almost nothing with him. Now he returns with Shirley, his African-American wife. He drives around the streets of his old town in a hired Caddy. Though successful, he is still homesick for his family with whom he has had no contact for almost 40 years. The mumps left him sterile and he has no children. He has returned to pay his younger brother Laci $300,000 to donate his highly viable sperm (Laci's wife already has a son and is pregnant with another.) so Shirley can become pregnant. Laci is happy to oblige, but prefers to impregnate her in the usual manner. Shirley, is also happy to oblige. Trouble ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

While waiting to be shipped back to Russia following the fall of communism in Hungary in the late 1980s, the military men and their families enact the story of Anton Chekhov's famous play The Three Sisters in modern guise. Basically, the story concerns the thwarted dreams and aspirations (romantic and otherwise) of the leading characters, whose lives have been greatly constrained by social obligations of one kind or another. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this broad (some might even say crude) comedy, Robinson Crusoe (Istvan Miko) has long since escaped from his island exile and is telling his story to author Daniel Defoe (Dezso Garas), who finds the man (and his story) to be quite sleep-inducing. Unlike the hero of Defoe's novel, this Crusoe is seen to be a lustful, racist creep who has extensive and unfortunate interactions with a whole band of unbelievably tolerant (and frequently nude) black natives. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Charming rogue that he is, Tamas Holl (Gabor Reviczy) is sitting on top of the world at the beginning of this comedy. He has gotten his way in nearly everything. He's gotten out of his marriage and is now having a semi-serious affair with one woman, a non-serious affair with another. Plus, he has managed to put some money aside by swindling his clients at the auction house he works at. When three thugs start to follow him around and harrass him in all sorts of ways (including shaving his head) he doesn't know who has put them up to it, and his life falls apart. He has cheated, lied to and betrayed so many of the people in his life, he can't begin to sort out who is the most aggrieved. His best friend? His ex-wife? His brother, whose wife he once got pregnant? Who would do such things to a loveable chap like Tamas? ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Mitzi (Hanna Schygulla) turns to Sandor (Marcello Mastroianni) for help when her husband is murdered by right-wing extremists looking for a cache of diamonds. She and her young son escape with Sandor to Italy. By the 1930s, they return to Budapest to run the successful Arizona Club, a posh watering hole for the social elite. Mitzi falls for an American journalist, her son falls for a woman with ties to high-ranking Nazis, and Sandor is questioned about his Jewish heritage. The son learns he is half Jewish as the Nazi round-up and deportation begin. Uneven editing in places suggests that a lot of film ended up on the cutting-room floor. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A 10-year-old Hungarian boy and his grandmother cope with the bloody Budapest uprising of 1956 that led to the Soviet takeover of the country. When the October battles begin, the boy and his family are forced to remain in their homes. The grandmother spends her days reading, and the boy is thrilled to be out of school. While they await the end of the curfew, many things befall the lad and his family. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Despite its title, Philadelphia Attraction is a Hungarian film. Karoly Eperjes plays a young acrobat permanently sidelined by an injury. Seeking a way to return to glory, Eperjes tries to wrest the secret of a "Frozen Man" act from ageing escape artist Kamill Feleki. The two men, both loners, become close friends, but Eperjes destroys the relationship when he finally appropriates the "Frozen Man" secret. The original Hungarian title for Philadelphia Attraction was Uramisten. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Kabala (Julianna Nyako) is 16 years old and caring for her 11-year-old brother (Zoltan Jakab) after her parent's divorce -- both of them failed to bring their parents back together despite valiant attempts in that direction. Unfortunately, her brother gets into trouble when he runs away from school and is caught shoplifting. Kabala has no choice but to quit her job and escape the area with her brother in tow. Although they eventually end up in youth hostels and she gets him back into school, her brother is soon in trouble again, and their parents refuse to help bail him out. In the meantime, Kabala has also suffered a multiple rape and under all ordinary circumstances, would need counseling herself. Instead, she helps her brother escape again -- this time sailing a little too close to the wind as both of them get into a stolen car to go for a fateful ride. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A rebel leader imprisoned for trying to overthrow Austrian Emperor Franz Josef escapes from jail three years after an aborted political uprising in 1848. He quickly recruits six others sympathetic to his cause to take part in a kidnap attempt on the ruler. Although small in numbers, the group inflicts severe damage to the imperial guards before the last man enters the royal coach. In a satirical bit of ironic symbolism, the only one in the carriage is a dummy. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi