Istvan Darday Movies

Avant-garde filmmakers Gyorgyi Szalai and Istvan Darday made this 143-minute excursion into fringe borderlands of the mind, depicting the death in Venice of a hospitalized astrologer, while a famous female vocalist loses her child in an automobile accident. Shot in video with a transfer to film, Reflections was described by Variety as "like being suspended in a water tank for two and a half hours." Also known as Reflections, the film was made over an eight-year period (1990-98). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Set in Central Europe following the 1989 fall of Communism, this German-Hungarian ensemble piece centers on the reactions and attempts to get by in a brand new environment. Yura and Vadim are Russian musicians trying to get to Belgrade for a performance. Impoverished Sergei, is trying to get there too. He sells knives to earn the needed money. British Maggie and American Susan have drifted to Hungary in search of excitement. All five characters accidentally collide in the Bolshe Vita bar in Budapest. While Sergei continues selling his cutlery in the open-air market, Yura and Maggie begin an affair as do Susan and Vadim. Much of the story chronicles the short-lived euphoria that followed the demise of oppression, but unfortunately, the people's happiness abruptly ended when the realities of life without constant government intervention set in. So it goes for the characters as each begins drifting towards their disparate destinies. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this Hungarian comedy post communist materialism is satirized. Someone in Hungary has won a large screen TV set. As they live in the country, it must be delivered from Budapest upon the back of an abandoned Russian military truck. The TV is turned on so that all the truck passes will see its perfect picture and hear its messages. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

While for the most part Stalin's population resettlements were pure exercises in either maliciousness or paranoia, sometimes they seemed more reasonable. This movie considers the consequences of one such relocation. In it, a German woman is relocated, along with the other residents of her large German community, from her home in the Volga river region of Russia during the Second World War. She subsequently searches all over Russia for her son, who was separated from her in the confusion. As she travels the country, she encounters the newer confusions of the present breakdown in the Soviet system, but persistence pays off and she eventually narrows down her search to two men, both at a certain prison: one is the prison warden, the other a man in solitary. While on an excursion to her original home, she discovers that one thing hasn't changed. The Russians of the area are still deeply suspicious of anyone with a German background. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

An honest and hard-working farmer happens to discover bauxite on his land and excitedly reports this to his bosses at the bauxite mine where he also works. They ignore him, but when a nearby tourist spa is contaminated by waste from the mine, the farmer soon finds that his bosses have taken over his property as the entire operation is moved to his once-peaceful domain. He receives no compensation and is shunted aside by his irate neighbors and his bosses as well. When there is an award ceremony for the discovery of this new mother lode, the farmer is brought to the occasion in a chauffeured car, given a token nod (less than what his superiors received), and is left to hitchhike home. Before long, his very home is obstructing the developing mine -- and he wonders where it will all end. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This compilation of six short films will be of particular interest to students of cinematic movements in Hungary and Eastern Europe. The six directors whose 1970s black and white film school work is gathered here went on to form the core of "the Budapest school" of Hungarian filmmaking. Highlights are "The Audition" by Andras Jeles about a youth preoccupied with dreams of fame, and Pal Wilt's socially consciouss piece about an ancient town whose center is being destroyed in order to make way for "an international youth center." The other films are by Gabor Body, Georgy Feher, Istvan Darday and Bela Tarr. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The hapless boy in this film (Jozsef Borsai) is selected to go on a trip to London with the Pioneers, a communist youth group, because he can play an instrument. At first his parents and others in his community are enthusiastic about his going, but second thoughts soon set in, and fears that he will be changed by the experience motivate his mother to have him removed from the tour list. The boy simply accepts whatever arises. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi