Zoltan Mucsi Movies
- 2008
Love and murder make strange bedfellows for a cop on the trail of a fugitive in this thriller from Germany. Gyorgy (Zoltan Mucsi) is a police detective whose gypsy ancestry has forced him to confront prejudice among his colleagues as well as the criminals he deals with each day. Gyorgy's latest assignment finds him investigating the murder of a successful antiques dealer, and as Gyorgy looks into the victim's affairs, he learns that the murdered man had connections to a underground prostitution business. Searching for a lead among the working girls, Gyorgy becomes infatuated with Eva, a streetwalker still in her teens. Tablo (aka Tableau) was based on a novel by Akos Kertedsz, who also wrote the screenplay in collaboration with director Gabor Dettre. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zoltan Mucsi, Imre Csuja, (more)
For his feature debut, L.A.-born Hungary resident Nimród Antal made Kontroll, a farcical look at the Budapest subway system, about the crazy ticket agents who earn their living there and the hostile citizens they deal with on a daily basis. At the center of it all is Bulcsú (Sándor Csányi), a quiet fellow who leads his ragtag crew that includes the Professor (Zoltán Mucsi), the nagging, burned-out elder of the group; Muki (Csaba Pindroch), the goofy narcoleptic; the disheveled Lecsó (Sándor Badár); and the naïvely gung-ho new guy, Tibi (Zsolt Nagy). Bulcsú and his guys can't compete with the likes of Gonzó's (Balázs Mihályfi) top-notch crew, who gets all the perks and the best assignments. They're more concerned with just getting through each day in one piece, and it isn't always easy. In addition to the annoyed riders who bicker over having to show their tickets and passes, there's Bootsie (Bence Mátyássy), an energetic young man who plays pranks on the agents and runs very fast, and Sofie (Eszter Balla), the odd young woman who shows up on the train in a bear costume everyday and never pays her fare. Worst of all, there's a dark and mysterious figure who's been pushing unsuspecting riders in front of oncoming trains with predictably grisly results. His superiors begin to suspect Bulcsú when they realize he's been living in the system, spending his nights sleeping on the platforms, and never venturing above ground. Kontroll won Le Prix de la Jeunesse at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. It was also selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art for inclusion in the 2005 edition of New Directors/New Films. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sándor Csányi, Zoltan Mucsi, (more)
- 2003
Miklós Jancsó's Kelj Fel, Komán, Ne Aludjál (Wake Up, Mate, Don't You Sleep) takes a satiric look at how Hungary dealt with the Jews in the time of World War II. The film begins with Kapa (Zoltan Mucsi) and Pepe (Peter Scherer) being swept up by authorities into a group of Jews. The fourth wall breaks down, and the characters begin complaining to Jancsó about the making of the film. Eventually the picture turns into a series of satirical blackout scenes that are unrelated apart from their inherent Hungarianism. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ildiko Toth, Zoltan Mucsi, (more)
- 2001
The media's fascination with criminals, and their desire to cloak sensationalism in the guise of informing the public, goes under the knife in this bizarre satiric comedy. Frau Plastic Chicken (Dorottya Udvaros) is the host of a popular television show called Nexxt, which serves up a variety of deviant behavior for the amusement of her viewing audience. While the hostess has arranged for a live broadcast of the arrest of Rex Madison (Viktor Bodo), a notorious multiple murderer, Frau Plastic Chicken wants something even splashier for her audience, so she schedules a post-arrest interview spot, in which Madison will discuss his crimes with Alexander Grushkin (Zoltan Mucsi), a man who claims to have been the inspiration for the character of Alex in the novel A Clockwork Orange. Since Grushkin is a good bit more serene these days than he was in his youth, Frau Plastic Chicken decides to first take him on a trip down memory lane, recreating the notorious "Ludovico Treatment" by strapping him to a chair and showing him sickening films of two women being beaten and murdered. Nexxt: Frau Plastic Chicken Show was produced in tandem with a stage adaptation of the same material, which opened around the same time the film began appearing at international film festivals. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dorottya Udvaros, Zoltan Mucsi, (more)
- 2001
After their success in Nekem Lampast Adott Kezembe Az Ur Pesten and Anyad! A Szunyogok, Zoltan Musci and Peter Scherer make their third appearance together as dancing grave diggers Kapa and Pepe in this idiosyncratic musical comedy. As Kapa and Pepe pass their time in Heroes' Square in Budapest, they find themselves confronted by members of a number of political and social groups, including a gang of Hungarian wiseguys, a handful of right-wing extremists, and a faction of leftist radicals. But no matter how hard they try, Kapa and Pepe can't seem to fit in with any of them, finding their dancing works best on its own. Utolso Vacsora Az Arabs Szurkenel was directed by veteran filmmaker Miklos Jansco, who was 80 years old when the film was released. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zoltan Mucsi, Peter Scherrer, (more)
- 2000
Legendary filmmaker Miklos Jancso, Jr. returns to the screen with this loose, improvised meditation on the current state of his native Hungary. Kapa (Zoltan Mucsi) and Pepe (Peter Scherrer) are the pair of hard-drinking, fast-talking gravediggers from his previous Nekem Lampast Adott Kezembe Az Ur Pesten (1999). This time around, the two argue over the beautiful Emese (Emese Vasvari), who is married to Pepe but does not take her marital vows all that seriously. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zoltan Mucsi, Peter Scherrer, (more)
- 1999
Experimental filmmaker and elder statesman Miklós Jancsó's surreal allegory about the present stands out with its twisted humor -- a cemetery is the film's starting point and leitmotif. The protagonists, Kapa and Pepe, are two gravediggers who sit on a little bench in the cemetery and while away the time fooling around with the world (including Jancsó and screenwriter Gyula Hernadi, who appear as themselves). The gravediggers are at the same time hoodlums, bankers, lawyers, nouveau riche, bankrupt entrepreneurs and terrorists. One thing is certain; they are indestructible. They are like the director and the screenwriter, who get shot because their names are on a list, but little do they care. In the meanwhile, the audience is greatly entertained with a lot of humor. Instead of a story, there are several episodes, and life, death, success and failure, philosophy, humor and satire are all mixed in these seemingly disconnected episodes. What connects them is the locale; they all take place in Budapest, where anything can happen. Nekem Lampast Adott Kezembe az ur Pesten earned the Gene Moskowitz foreign critics award at the 30th Annual Hungarian Film Week festival in 1999 and it was also screened as part of the International Forum of New Cinema section of the 49th Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Scherrer, Zoltan Mucsi, (more)
- 1999
This sequel to Ferenc Grunwalsky's crime drama Little But Tough follows Bogar, the hero of the original film, as he heads home after a ten-year stretch in prison to find out what happened to the loot he left with his family for safekeeping. He quickly discovers his former accomplice has been terrorizing his sister and her husband, so Bogar sees the need to mete out some punishment. This film was shown as part of 1999's Hungarian Film Week Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandor Gaspar, Agnes Csere, (more)
- 1998
Chief secretary of the Union of Hungarian Film and Television Artists, a documentarist and a renowned feature filmmaker, Gyorgy Szomjas has distinguished himself by focusing exclusively on social problems and often working with non-professionals. With Gengszterfilm (Gangster Film), he demonstrates how one can become a gangster in post-totalitarian Hungary. A pleasant former officer of the former People's Army, also a former prisoner in a former socialist prison, becomes a cold-blooded robber and murderer in the surprisingly compliant new democracy, and he now deals with his personal complexes in his own way. Is it envy or conceit or high politics that forces people into crime? Are morals and decency important in our society? The film raises these questions without providing definitive answers. Gengszterfilm was screened at the 1999 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zoltan Mucsi, Peter Scherrer, (more)
- 1992
- Add Edes Emma, Draga Böbe - Vazlatok, Aktok to QueueAdd Edes Emma, Draga Böbe - Vazlatok, Aktok to top of Queue
Emma has moved to Budapest from the countryside with her good friend Böbe, and both of them have taken jobs as schoolteachers. However, their wages are pitifully small, and all they can afford in the way of housing is a shared room in a boarding house near the airport. The two women have settled into their lives, but it isn't easy: Emma's sexual affair with the school's married principal is not emotionally satisfying, and Böbe's penchant for picking up foreigners and bringing them back to their room for sex creates unpleasant situations, to say the least. At school, it used to be clear what the quickest route to success was, but now that the communists are no longer in power, a lot of the senior people are floundering in uncertainty. Eventually, Emma gains the courage to strike out on her own. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johanna ter Steege, Peter Andorai, (more)
