Mihály Vig

Hungarian experimental filmmaker Péter Forgács spent much of his career idiosyncratically, compiling historical documentaries out of "found" footage shot between 1930 and 1950. Forgács's unique combination of elements - including voiceover, added music and sounds, and self-imposed narrative structures - enabled him to offer different "spins" on well-known historical periods, filtered through the eyes of men and women who lived through those eras. The director's Own Death constitutes a dramatic break from this pattern; Forgács's premier fiction film, adapted from Hungarian belletrist Péter Nádas's novella of the same title, it relies on found footage to establish background and atmosphere, but utilizes newly shot film for the bulk of its central narrative. Like its source material, the film meditates on the experience of an ordinary man who has a near-fatal heart attack and briefly walks the dividing line between life and death; while the novel meditates on the nature of this experience via extensive personal insights and recollections, in the film Forgács meditates on many of the same ideas via the extensive use of evocative imagery. Through it all, Forgács conveys the central idea that an untimely death constitutes a horrid tragedy because it stands in the way of continued life and accomplishments. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

This European epic is seven hours long. It is adapted from a novel by Laszlo Karsznahorkai and reflects the obsession of director Bela Tarr who began the film seven years ago. It took two full years to film this opus. The story is presented through a series of chapters of varying lengths with titles like "The News That They are Coming," "We, the Resurrected," "The Freeze," "Only Problems and Work." and finally "The Circle Is Completed." The enormously complex saga is centered in an abandoned farm machinery plant upon a Hungarian plain. There live a small band of hobos including three couples, a doctor with a drinking problem. All of them want to leave and they will do anything they can to do it. A set series of events occurs, but the story presents those events from each of the different character's viewpoints. The film ends on an ironic note. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr began his career making social realist domestic dramas, similar to the work of John Cassavettes. The feature before Damnation, Almanac of Fall, showed Tarr moving toward a more visually stylized form of filmmaking. With Damnation, the first of his collaborations with novelist Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Tarr adopts a formally rigorous style, featuring long takes and slow tracking shots of the bleak landscape that surrounds the characters. Shot in black-and-white, Damnation tells the story of Karrer (Miklos B. Szekely), a depressed man in love with a married woman (Vali Kerekes) who sings at the local bar, Titanik. The singer has broken off their affair, despite her profession of love for him. She wants to improve her life. She dreams of becoming famous, but she herself embodies all of Karrer's hopes and dreams. Karrer is offered smuggling work by Willarsky (Gyula Pauer), the bartender at Titanik. Despite his lack of other prospects, Karrer tries to haggle with Willarsky over his take. Karrer eventually decides to offer the job to the singer's husband, Sebastyen (Gyorgy Cserhalmi), who has fallen on hard times. This gets the husband out of the way for a while, but things don't go as Karrer plans with the singer. There's a big, drunken dance, which everyone in town attends (though one demented soul prefers to dance maniacally in the rain outside). Afterwards, one betrayal falls upon another, leaving Karrer in despair, alienated from all of humanity. This film laid the groundwork for Tarr's next collaboration with Krasznahorkai, Satantango, a seven-hour film which they spent years developing, and which many consider Tarr's masterpiece. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

One of the problems with this drama lies in its title; "Eskimo" is pejorative, "Inuit" is preferred. Aside from this minor point, director (Janos Xantus) does not have a clear-cut storyline to guide his characters through their inevitable encounters with fate, but he does guide them in style. Mari (Marietta Mehes) is married to Janos (Andor Lukats), a deaf-mute, but is courted by Laci (Boguslaw Linda), a concert pianist who has fallen in love with her. Laci gives up his career to focus on Mari's own ambitions to become a rock singer, and between the two of them, Janos is rather exploited for their own aims. Eventually, the most unstable member of the trio proves to harbor murderous anger when pushed too far. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide