János Xantus
Director Janos Xantus was in the middle of making a video about Hungarian rock star Tamas Pajor when his subject suddenly became a convert to born-again Christianity. As a result, Xantus was able to record the startling transition. Pajor had been a hell-bent rocker, heavily into drugs, and known for a violent temper. We see him become a clean-living, clean-cut youth who sings about Jesus. Xantus had captured pre-conversion tape of Pajor trashing a hotel room and punching his hand through a plate glass window. In one of this film's most effective scenes, the new Pajor, hand heavily bandaged, quietly watches this footage. Rock Terito also has some dramatic recreations, but these add little to our understanding of Pajor. The transfer from video to film was generally effective, but some scenes are murkily lit. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
Insulted when his screenwriter wife writes a leading role for a younger man, aging Broadway idol Fitz Wynn disguises himself as a handsome young Italian.
The film is about a piano player who falls in love with Mari, a beautiful blond woman, who happens to be the wife of a deaf-mute animal caretaker. Both men adore Mari, as she loves both of them. Albeit all of them know this way won't stand.
Political and sexual repression in Hungary, just after the revolution of 1956. In 1958, the body of Eva Szalanczky, a political journalist, is discovered near the border. Her friend Livia is in hospital with a broken neck; Livia's husband, Donci, is under arrest. In a flashback to the year before, we see what leads up to the tragedy. Eva gets a job as a writer. She meets Livia and is attracted to her. Livia feels much the same, but as a married woman, has doubts and hesitations. In their work, they (and Eva in particular) bang up against the limits of telling political truths; in private, they confront the limits of living out sexual and emotional truth.
This short film examines the circumstances of an unintentional murder, without success. As Wittgenstein stated, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." ("Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen.")
The week-days of a youth-camp, playing democracy, are depicted in this documentarist satire. Due to faulty organisation, the Budapest high-school students get only working tools, but no work to do. The camp leadership tries to cover up facts and urges them to be initiated into "community life".
