Cat City

Macskafogó; animated spy comedy, Hungary / Canada / Germany, 1986; D: Béla Ternovszky, S: László Sinkó, Miklós Benedek, Péter Haumann, János Körmendi

Anthropomorphic mice are terrorized in their city by a crime cat syndicate led by mafioso Teufel and his boss Gatto. After the cats rob a mouse bank using a tank, the mice send their special agent Nick Grabowski to go to Professor Fushimishi in an oriental country and get a secret microfilm from him that will save the mice. Teufel, who has wiretapped the secret mouse headquarters, dispatches four rat gangsters to stop Grabowski. Upon finding Fushimishi, and the microfilm hidden in his beard, Grabowski takes his female assistant Seno San with him, but both are caught by the cats and sent to Gatto during a special cat party. However, Grabowski and San are saved by mouse police officer Dick who befriended bats who flew and helped them. The microfilm has a plan that gives the mice a secret weapon: a giant robot dog that catches all the cats and transforms them into peaceful animals.

One of the most popular animated films by the Pannonia Film Studio, "Cat City" (also translated as "Cat-Catcher") enjoys cult status in Hungary, but outside its borders, its appeal and enthusiasm doesn't quite hold up. It is a blend of James Bond-style spy films, gangster films and comedy, which is uneven, but has its bizarre moments of charm. The protagonist is supposed to be secret mouse agent Nick Grabowski, but he is featured surprisingly little, only for about a third of the film, while the cat villain Teufel is given too much screen time, almost overshadowing him. A third subplot, revolving around a mumbling mouse police officer Dick who got lost in the jungle and met some Mexican bats, is superfluous and could have been cut altogether. Nonetheless, "Cat City" has a good amount of jokes and luckily doesn't go into too abstract-surreal territory. The "Star Wars"-style opening credits are already amusing, depicting the setting as "80 AMM (Anno Mickey Mouse)", whereas someone can enter the mouse intelligence headquarters only via a "tail scan" machine, and in there a committee member complains about Grabowski: "After the King Kong situation, he told everybody that he is the 13th reincarnation of Mickey Mouse". There are themes of a stronger nation trying to dominate a weaker one, but the director Bela Ternovszky is mostly only interested in crafting a simple action comedy. It is a chaotic patchwork, but some ideas have that coveted creativity and inspiration (after jumping from the plane, Grabowski is falling from the sky holding San in his arm, but then comments that it is raining, so he ejects a parachute from his backpack, which works conveniently both as an umbrella and a softener for their landing).  

Grade:++

Living in Oblivion

Living in Oblivion; comedy, USA, 1995; D: Tom DiCillo, S: Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Dermot Mulroney, Danielle von Zerneck, James LeGros, Peter Dinklage

Nick is a director of an independent film. He tries to film a scene of actress Nicole playing the role of a woman confessing to her mother that her father hit her, but numerous problems keep messing up the take. In the end, a beeping sound is heard. Nick wakes up, it was all a dream... High-profile actor Chad Palomino joins the cast of Nick's film, but constantly keeps changing the place of his position with Nicole on the set, leaving him out of the frame. His arrogance causes a fight with Nick, who beats Chad and leaves him unconscious in a cab. Nicole wakes up, it was all a dream... Nick wants to direct a dream scene, but the dwarf actor Tito protests that it doesn't make sense and leaves the set. Nick's mom surprisingly takes Tito's place, holds an apple for Nicole, and thus the scene is filmed. Nick is so pleased he fantasizes of winning an award for the film.  

Sometimes, behind-the-scenes problems of making a movie are more interesting than the finished movie, and director Tom DiCillo uses his own personal experience from filmmaking in this fun independent comedy. "Living in Oblivion" is a one-note concept overstretched into a feature, but is still an honest ode to all artists everywhere struggling to achieve their vision, and their dream work of art, despite all the obstacles and opposition. It is comprised out of three segments. The first one is filmed in black-and-white cinematography, except in the actual scene of the film which is in color, and shows how a single take can be ruined in so many ways that it becomes absurdly creative: a boom mic falls into the frame; loud music from someone's car outside on the street is heard; or the hilarious moment where the actress Nicole (excellent Catherine Keener) is reciting her line, but all of a sudden fragments of glass fall into the scene, as the light exploded from too much heat.

The second segment is filmed in color, except for the scene from the fictional film which is in black-and-white, but this time depicting the tribulations caused by a "hot shot" movie star Chad, who is trying to direct a scene more than the director Nick himself. In one of the best ideas, Chad persuades the cameraman to place actress Nicole from the foreground into the background, with himself in the close up, under the pretext that she says "I've always admired you from afar". Even better is the scene where Nick sits next to Nicole and repeats the played scene almost word-for-word, admitting he admired her as an actress. Unfortunately, the movie suffers from the bad idea that the first two segments are revealed to be only a dream, implying that only the last 30 minutes are the actual filming of the movie, which should have been re-written to be included as one continuous, uninterrupted story from three different days. The last segment revolves around the dwarf actor Tito (Peter Dinklage in an early role) in all seriousness confronting Nick about the illogical nature of a dream sequence: "Why does my character have to be a dwarf?! ... Oh, make it weird, put a dwarf in it! Everyone will go: whoa whoa whoa, it must be a dream, there's a dwarf in it!" Other good gags are the smoke machine for said dream sequence which causes so much smoke in the room that it triggers the smoke detector, or the cameraman Wolf who is wearing an eyepatch, but a tear flows underneath it. Not every joke works, some are forced or underwhelming, and DiCillo doesn't have such a sense for comic timing, but overall, "Living in Oblivion" is a loving homage to underdogs trying to realize their dream. 

Grade:+++

The Real Blonde

The Real Blonde; comedy, USA, 1997; D: Tom DiCillo, S: Matthew Modine, Catherine Keener, Maxwell Caulfield, Daryl Hannah, Bridgette Wilson, Mario Thomas, Kathleen Turner, Elizabeth Berkley, Denis Leary, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd

New York. Joe wants to make it as an actor, but is only working as a waiter and still has no agent. Joe is questioning his relationship with his girlfriend Mary, deeming their sex underwhelming lately. His co-worker Bob accepts a job at a TV soap opera and wants to find a real blonde. Joe meets with agent Dee Dee and accepts to perform as an extra in a Madonna music video, but instead of the singer, only her stand-in is on the set, Tina. Due to an argument with an anti-Judaist assistant, Joe is fired. However, Dee Dee lets him audition for a role with Tina, and Joe gets a part in a movie. Tina kisses him, Joe at first embraces her, but then stops, leaves and returns back to Mary. Joe and Mary have passionate sex again and thus make up. 

Tom DiCillo's only big budget Hollywood film, "The Real Blonde" has a story that is difficult to pin down: ostensibly, it is about a blonde, but it uses that only as a symbol for a contemplation about integrity and happiness. The main character is struggling actor Joe (very good Matthew Modine), trying to make it in New York, which again touches upon DiCillo's themes of struggling artists and filmmaking from "Living in Oblivion"—Steve Buscemi even practically reprises his role as the director of the Madonna music video. The best bits are Joe's relationship scenes with Mary (outstandingly natural and genuine Catherine Kenner): as a couple, they are not idealized, they have troubles, they argue, but they have the ability to listen, improve and understand each other as truly grown up characters, which is fascinating. The movie starts with Joe and Mary in a crisis in bed, as they hear through the window of their apartment that some old lady's dog is kidnapped on the street; conversely, the movie ends with Joe and Mary making up and having wonderful sex in bed, as the old lady outside spots her lost dog returning back to her on the street. The dog is thus a symbol for balance, comfort in Joe's and Mary's relationship, which is lost, but then found again.

Their crisis is caused by Joe's refusal to star in TV soap operas, deeming them weak, as he only aims for artistic roles in quality films, but this way he is often short on money. As his agent tells him, he must be willing to accept even bad roles in soap operas, because that's all "just business". Joe's friend Bob is basically Joe's "what if?" shadow: Bob is also an actor, but accepts to star in a soap opera for money. Bob is thus a symbol for shallowness and giving up for easy comfort. He is looking for a "real blonde", but eventually ends up with a woman who admits she only dyed her hair and is a brunette. In a skillful twist of the viewers' assumptions, DiCillo implies that Joe is also technically a blond, a male blonde, but has integrity and standards. Ironically, Mary thus ends up with a real blond, while Bob ends with a fake blonde, because he is so superficial. The storyline defies a typical three-act structure and meanders a lot, but for some reason it flows so smoothly and naturally that it is simply engaging to watch it. The movie is often funny through little character quirks and lines, whereas these characters grow on you. One has sympathy for Joe who navigates through this world of weird videos and photo shoots about nothing, without a soul. In one crucial sequence, Joe meets Tina who has blond hair; later, they meet again at an audition, but Tina now has natural brown hair. Tina kisses him, but he decides to return to Mary. Is the message that small, imperfect happiness is still preferable to idealized, illusory happiness because it is at least—real? Either way, "The Real Blonde" is a comfy fun.

Grade:+++

Unseen Wonder

Čudo neviđeno; satire, Montenegro / Serbia, 1984; D: Živko Nikolić, S: Savina Geršak, Petar Božović, Boro Begović, Dragan Nikolić, Taško Načić, Vesna Pećanac, Boro Stjepanović, Danilo 'Bata' Stojković, Velimir 'Bata' Živojinović

A small village on the Skadar lake. A young American woman comes to visit, claiming her father once lived in this village. She finds a job as a waitress of a tavern, seduces its owner Baro and even persuades him to sign the ownership over to her name. Four lads from a neighboring village try to woo her, but she wants to know who is the strongest among them, so they end up fighting each other. Šćepan, a tycoon, persuades her to seduce every man and trick him into signing a document approving for his plan to build a tunnel which will drain the lake and leave a fertile valley for a plantation farm. The American woman seduces also Boro, who is unsuccessfully trying for years to have his wife Krstinja impregnated. Since the sea level is higher than the lake level, the lake floods the area. The American woman wants to marry fisherman Zeljo, but while they were on a boat, the clash with another group of men on a boat, shoot and fight, until all the men die and she is left the only one alive on the boats.

"Unseen Wonder" is considered one of the best Montenegrin movies by one of the best Montenegrin directors, Zivko Nikolic, a peculiar, but delicious satire in which the director tells one of the most ironic stories of Yugoslav cinema: the one how Western liberalism and modernism, embodied in, of course, a woman (excellent Savina Gersak) arrives to the backward conservative East and causes such a stir and commotion that it eventually reforms / destroys it. Nikolic makes fun of conservatism, patriarchism, religion, pseudo-scientific local "experts" and overall primitivism of the most backward Balkan areas with gusto, inserting a lot of humor with a lot of sense for local mentality. Several observations are subtle (all the women work in the lake, while all the men just lazily sit in the pub and drink), while some are so direct it is hard to miss them. The main protagonist, a nameless American woman of Montenegrin roots, finds this place and surprisingly turns it into her very own party, always keeping the upper hand, in a more logical feminist retelling of Pasolini's film "Teorema", using her erotic touch to control the men in her favor. 

Several jokes are very funny. For instance, the American woman swims naked in the Skadar lake, while two Orthodox priests observe her from the monastery: "What is this, father Makarije? A fallen angel punished by God or the devil in woman's body?" - "No, father Leontije, that's just what the blunt people would call, a good pussy!" Makarije is later seen "helping" the infertile woman Krstinja by telling her to lie on the bed in the monastery room, while he has sex with her to "help" her become pregnant. Just as her husband Šoro wanted to divorce her since the American woman claims to be pregnant with him, Krstinja announces she is pregnant as well. Later on, in a twist, Krstinja demands that the American woman hands her the baby after birth, revealing she just placed a pillow on her stomach under the skirt—but the American woman then also reveals her own pillow from under the skirt. In a sequence where a man secretly brings the American woman to his home at night, his father wakes up and protests, as they have this exchange: "You bring this freak here? If she enters this house, I am leaving!" - "Oh, father, you will leave even sooner than that." Serb comedian Danilo Stojkovic has an unusual role of the tycoon Šćepan who wants to drain the lake, but is still excellent in it. The ending is a bit vague and incomplete, failing to circle out everything clearly, but the overall conclusion is still amusing.

Grade:+++

Fiume o morte!

Fiume o morte!; docudrama, Croatia / Italy / Slovenia, 2025; D: Igor Bezinović, S: Andrea Marsanich, Albano Vučetić, Tihomir Buterin, Izet Medošević, Massimo Ronzani, Lovro Mirth, Silvana Zorich

Following the end of World War I, the Allied forces (Italians, French, Americans, British...) enter the city of Rijeka (Italian: Fiume). Austria-Hungary dissolves, Italy gains Istria, but the status of Rijeka on the border remains uncertain. On 12 September 1 9 1 9, Italian poet and ultra-nationalist Gabriele D'Annunzio unilaterally gathers hundreds of volunteers and crosses with 26 trucks into Rijeka, claiming it for Italy. However, since the left-wing government of Italy at that time refuses to annex Rijeka, fearing a clash with Yugoslavia, D'Annunzio declares himself as the governor of Rijeka, enjoying in parties and cocaine. Thousands of Italian volunteers flock to Rijeka to form his private army. Following the Treaty of Rapallo, Rijeka is supposed to become the Free State of Fiume. Since D'Annunzio refuses to accept the treaty, on 24 December 1 9 2 0 Italian soldiers invade Rijeka, defeat the local army and chase away D'Annunzio. In 1 9 2 2, Benito Mussolini becomes the dictator of Italy. Two years later, he annexes the Free State of Fiume. 

Documentary-docudrama "Fiume o morte!" is a chronicle of one of the most bizarre and surreal episodes from not only the Croatian, Italian, but also European history: the case of Italian ultra-nationalist Gabriele D'Annunzio who, on a whim, spontaneously invaded Rijeka after World War I with his volunteers, claiming it for Italy—but Italy refused to annex it, which led to an almost 1.5 year long standoff, where D'Annunzio led the city as a private property. The director Igor Bezinovic films on real locations, elegantly blending in staged scenes and archive footage: in one of the most genius moments, the scene of actors playing D'Annunzio and his followers holding a speech on a balcony of a building, the camera zooms out into a wide shot, revealing an empty location, but then cuts to the black-and-white photo of that identical place from 1 9 1 9, with hundreds of people in the crowd cheering at D'Annunzio. The opening scenes show a hand holding a photo of old bridges of Rijeka from a hundred years ago, and then lowering said photos to reveal real life locations today. 

Bezinovic also mixes delightfully quirky humor and metafilm touches: D'Annunzio is played by six actors (!), each at one point of the film, whereas even bloopers are allowed (an old woman pats and comforts the fever-struck D'Annunzio lying in bed, but then both actors randomly burst into laughter at speaking out these absurd theatrical lines; an extra playing D'Annunzio's soldier at Korzo is addressed by a random grandma, who tells him the soldier outfit "doesn't suit him" and that he should "dance with a girl in a disco" instead). The first half is very amusing and educational, showing D'Annunzio as a sort of proto-fascist (in one archive footage, he is even seen giving a Roman salute; Benito Mussolini visited him for one day in Rijeka), but, unfortunately, the movie runs out of steam and becomes dull after a while, and is definitely overlong with its running time of 113 minutes. "Fiume o morte!" certainly needed a better editor, since several scenes are superfluous and could have been cut (interviewing actors reading out for the audition; soldiers singing; guys playing on the beach...). Despite its overstretched tone and some questionable idiosyncrasies (why does the narration suddenly switch from Croatian to Fiuman Italian?), "Fiume o morte!" is still a valuable film spotlighting one of the most ironic historical lessons, since D'Annunzio is a symbolic forerunner to the failure of fascism in itself.

Grade:+++

Spy

Spy; action comedy, USA, 2015; D: Paul Feig, S: Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Jason Statham, Jude Law, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney, Morena Baccarin

Susan works as a dispatcher for the CIA agent Bradley, giving him info through his ear piece. When he gets assassinated by the mysterious arms dealer Rayna, the CIA takes a daring step of giving Susan the job of a spy to discover more info about a missing nuclear bomb. CIA spy Ford objects, and secretly follows her. Susan manages to gain Rayna's trust in Rome, presenting herself as Rayna's father's bodyguard. In Budapest, Susan is uncovered by Rayna's men, and she finds out Bradley only feigned his death to pretend he teamed up with Rayna. Together with the clumsy Italian agent Aido and friend Nancy, Susan is able to stop Rayne from selling the nuclear bomb to criminal De Luca. 

"Spy" is a moderately funny spoof on various spy and secret agent movies, incorporating just enough jokes to carry the film. The director Paul Feig has only a half-successful sense for comic timing: in his better moments, he can conjure up a few funny gags; conversely, during his weaker moments, he relies too much on empty, overlong babbling or just plain lazy zany scenes to cover up a lack of true comic inspiration. Melissa McCarthy is fun as the CIA dispatcher Susan who is sent on a mission as a spy, while Jason Statham is a real surprise as the clumsy CIA agent Ford, cast against type in a rare comic role. Some of the best moments arrive as spoofs of various action cliches: for instance, just as Susan is in danger of being shot, Ford suddenly enters the room triumphantly, seemingly as one of those "saved-in-the-nick-of-time" moments, only for his trench coat to get stuck on the door knob, him dropping the gun, slipping, and then falling clumsily on the floor, knocking himself unconscious. As Ford is later seen boarding a motorboat, claiming he will go for an Italian vacation to relax, starting it and shouting "Arrivederci!", Nancy and Susan look at him and have this exchange: "Do you think he knows that's a lake?" - "No". The Italian secret agent Aido also has a good humorous moment when, after acting horny and with a bad accent all the time, he suddenly appears in a fancy suit and andresses Susan in a perfectly gentleman manner and impeccable British accent, claiming to be an MI6 agent who was "just carried away with playing a lustful Italian". Several jokes fail to ignite or have a punchline. The movie could have been cut by at least half an hour by simply removing said lackluster attempts at humor, but even as it is, it is efficient and has enough fun.

Grade:++

Rental Family

Rental Family; comedy / drama, Japan / USA, 2025; D: Hikari, S: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Akira Emoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman, Mari Yamamoto, Shino Shinozaki

Tokyo. Desperate due to the fact that nobody wants to cast him, small time American actor Phillip accepts to work for the Rental Family company led by Shinji, which specializes in actors playing real-life roles for clients. Phillip thus plays several roles: a friend of a man who wants to play video games with someone; a husband for a fake wedding of a lesbian woman intended to appease her parents, so that she can get away from them; a father for the 6-year old Mia, since her mother Hitomi believes that her daughter will be enrolled in a prestigious school if she is not a single parent; a reporter interviewing retired actor Kikuo, ostensibly to write an article about him... Phillip gets emotionally attached to the last two jobs. Mia figures out he is not her real dad, is angry, but makes up with him. Kikuo dies after Phillip brings him to his birth town. Shinji thus reforms the company: it now offers no apology services.

An unusual film that explores the unusual 21st century phenomenon of alienated modern Japan, companies for Rental family services, this comedy-drama is both comical and sad, and the more you think about it, the sadder this concept gets. Brendan Fraser is good as the American expat Phillip struggling to understand Japan, and thus accepts the task of playing acting roles in real life for hire to better "blend in", for people who need a friend, a fake husband, and even a fake father. Through it, the director and screenwriter Hikari paints a bigger picture of absence of human touch, contact and connection lost in urban megalopolises, which mutate into stranger and stranger directions. At moments, the disappearing border between deception and reality seems as bizarre as "The Truman Show": Phillip is suppose to fill in the gap for missing relationships, but he feels more and more like a fake himself. Hikari shows a lot of sense for humor (Phillip's over-the-top toothpaste commercial; the scene where Phillip pretends to be Hitomi's husband for the school interview, and when the committee asks them what is the most important in raising a child, he and Hitomi answer differently at the same time: "Honesty" and "Communication", so Phillip improvises to save the situation: "An honest communication"), yet becomes surprisingly emotional in the last third, when Phillip actually becomes friends with retired actor Kikuo and the 6-year old Mia, playing her "dad". "Rental Family" lacks some higher creative "jumps", and it should have included at least one moment where Phillip's separate acting jobs overlap and contradict each other, which is a pity, but it does have an interesting moment where Mia recognizes Phillip playing a pirate in a movie. The emotional bond between Mia and her surrogate father Phillip is surprisingly sweet, showing that sometimes even surrogate emotions can traverse from fake to real.

Grade:++

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Sawt Hind Rajab; docudrama, Tunisia / France, 2025; D: Kaouther Ben Hania, S: Motaz Malhees, Saja Kilani, Amer Hlehel, Clara Khoury 

Gaza War. The Israeli army orders the evacuation of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood. On 29 January 2024, Red Crescent telephone worker Omar receives a phone call from the 5-year year old Hind Rajab, a girl who is trapped in a car that was shot at from a tank, which left five of her relatives dead. The car is stranded near the Fares gas station, an 8-minute car drive from the Red Crescent building. Omar is pressuring his boss Mahdi, the coordinator, to dispatch an ambulance to get Hind, but they must first wait for the approval of the Israeli authorities. Rana and Nisreen are also on the phone, talking to the girl, trying to calm her. After a green light, an ambulance is finally dispatched to pick up Hind, but is shot at and the contact breaks. At 7:30 pm, Hind is not heard of again. Weeks later, after Israeli army withdrawal, Hind's corpse is found in the car that was shot at with 335 bullets.

"The Voice of Hind Rajab" is a movie that destroys you. One cannot enjoy it, it is impossibly painful, but it is an essential watch. From the cinematic aspect, it is remarkable—it is an re-enactment of the Red Crescent workers who talked on the phone to Hind Rajab, it plays out only within this one location (except for the epilogue which includes archive footage of crime investigators and Hind's mother), and yet it is engaging, gripping and absorbing from start to finish. The title character, the 5-year old girl, is never seen, only heard via audio. The director Kaouther Ben Hania elegantly blends in real-life audio of Hind with actors who play Red Crescent workers, and even in one scene shows actors playing said workers Nisreen and Omar sitting and standing on the table while talking to Hind, while someone is holding a mobile phone in front of the camera, playing a recording of actual footage of Nisreen and Omar in this exact pose, overlayed over actors re-enacting this scene. And yet, the human dimension is the one that stays with you the most. Hearing the voice of this 5-year old child, scared, crying for help, hoping someone will save her from the car, surrounded by five dead relatives, is the ultimate agony of helplessness. It is impossible to watch it without becoming emotional. But then again, this is a story that simply had to be told. Humanity owed it to Hind to tell this story. The viewers share their frustration with Omar who argues with his boss Mahdi that they were not given green light to simply go get the girl—after all, she is only a 40-minute walk away from them, and they have been talking to her over the phone for two hours. Still, anyone who is not given authorization to go to a certain route during Gaza War, will simply be shot, and as the finale shows, some will be shot even in an ambulance van and even with this authorization. This is a chronicle of the war crime of indiscriminate attack and murder, and the people who just watch this, without having any power to stop it. Some of the most tear-inducing movies that will make you cry are not "Titanic" or "Life is Beautiful"—but "The Voice of Hind Rajab".

Grade:+++

The Fifth Seal

Az Ötödik Pecsét; psychological war drama, Hungary, 1976; D: Zoltán Fábri, S: Lajos Őze, László Márkus, Sándor Horváth, Ferenc Bencze, István Dégi, Zoltán Latinovits

Budapest, World War II. Four friends gather at a closed bar and talk at the table: Gyurica, Kovacs, Kiraly and Bela, the innkeeper. A man with a limp, on crutches, Keszei, unexpectedly enters and joins them. Gyurica poses a philosophical question: on a fictional island, a monarch, Tomoceusz Katatiki, abuses his slave Gyugyu by cutting his tongue, poking one of his eyes, taking away his children. But Gyugyu at least feels comfort that he is superior by being good and innocent, regardless. If they were to die, would they choose to be reborn as Tomoceusz or Gyugyu? That night, all the friends sleep badly, struggling with this question. They are arrested by Fascist agents and beaten in a prison for calling them murderers. A Fascist official shows them a dying anti-Fascist tied in a Christ-like pose and tells them they are free to go if they slap him twice. They all refuse and are executed, except Gyurica who slaps him and is released. As he walks, buildings collapse from bombings.

One of the best movies of the 70s, a one that feels equally as fresh and relevant even today, Zoltan Fabri's "The Fifth Seal" is a phenomenal philosophical film posing the ultimate moral question: if they were forced to pick a side, would people choose the stronger evil or the weaker good? Would they choose to save their soul if it is not rewarding? This is a highly unusual film, contemplating about Jean Paul Sartre's bad faith thought experiment and the external pressures that persuade people to accept false values, but also displaying a strange structure. In the opening 42-minute segment, "The Fifth Seal" plays out on only one location, a bar, consisting only out of five people talking at the table. At first, the viewers are not sure what kind of a film they are watching, nor where this is going. All this is initially static. Until the protagonist Gyurica poses a thought provoking question: if they were forced to choose, would they pick to live as an evil, cruel, powerful tyrant or his slave who is constantly abused and mistreated, but remains incorruptibly purehearted? In the intermission segment, the four friends cannot sleep because they are struggling with this question, doubting their own ethics and integrity. 

As Kovacs and Bela observe, they are passive to the world around them, because that is the least dangerous ("I've got no wealth, but I've got clear conscience!" - "Our names won't be printed in history books, but we never did anything evil, either"). Nothing is shown as black-and-white, either: Gyurica is a cynic, but secretly takes care not only for his three children at home, but is also hiding a Jewish girl during World War II; whereas the opportunistic Bela is paying money both to a Fascist commander and to a woman whose husband was taken away by the Fascists, since he calculates that he can thus have evidence of both pro-Fascism and anti-Fascism after the war, depending on whoever wins. While the first segment is the moral question in theory, the last segment is the practice: the four friends are arrested by Fascists, beaten in jail, and then given an impossible choice. They must abandon their self-respect and show loyalty to the Fascists by slapping a tortured man, half-dead, standing in a Christ-like pose as his two hands are tied up in opposite directions in jail—if they hit him, they are free to go; if they refuse, they will be shot. "The Fifth Seal" is one of the rare movies where the last 15 minutes decisively decide the impression of the whole: all the doubts from the opening act disappear and the viewers are left feeling shattered, trying to pull themselves together after experiencing such intensity and contemplation. This is, in essence, a Christian film about saving your soul and being good. If it had been directed by I. Bergman, "The Fifth Seal" would have been one of the top 5 best Bergman movies. As it has been directed by Fabri, it is one of the best Hungarian movies of the 20th century. 

Grade:+++

The Witness

A tanú; satire, Hungary, 1969; D: Péter Bacsó, S: Ferenc Kállai, Lajos Őze, Béla Both, Zoltán Fábri, Lili Monori

Hungary, 1 9 4 9. Jozsef Pelikan, a Danube dike-reeve and father of 8 children, slaughters a pig in his home basement to prepare meat. However, since that is illegal, a witness snitches him to the Communist authorities who arrive at Jozsef's home and arrest him. Surprisingly, he is released by Communist official Virag who is suspiciously helpful towards him. Virag finds Jozsef new jobs as a swimming pool director or amusement park manager, but each time Jozsef makes a blunder and is arrested again. Finally, he succeeds as an orange institute director. In the end, Virag reveals his true intent: Jozsef has to be a witness at a trial and falsely testify against his friend Zoltan, who fell out of favor against the Communists, and accuse him of being a Fascist agent. But at the trial, Jozsef is confused and angry when he spots an old enemy, Gulyas, as a witness, too, argues with him, and thus Gulyas incriminates Jozsef and Virag as agents, as well. Jozsef is sentenced to death, but released after the death of Stalin.

Already from the opening scenes where the protagonist Jozsef Pelikan arrives with his boat at the Danube shore, while his dog runs towards a giant sign on the meadow that says "Long Live Our Great and Wise Leader!" and urinates on it, it is already obvious Peter Bacso's brilliant "The Witness" will be a giant satirical poke at Communism, unbelievable in its audacity, which is why it was immediately banned by the Communist regime and landed in a bunker for a decade, but after the fall of Communism, it achieved a cult status. Bacso crafts a completely relaxed, casual and laconic film about the misadventures of its protagonist, through which it illustrates several layers of his society and system back in the day. Several jokes arrive so swiftly they play out almost as a kids movie, reminiscent of Czech humor, but always with a sharp edge since the allusions are obvious. The Communist ban in which farmers were not allowed to kill their own pig on their own farm to have meat for their kids is already absurd in itself. 

In one sequence the secret police arrive at Jozsef's home, searching for the "illegal" meat, cannot find anything, but then Jozsef's friend, Zoltan Daniel, a Communist official, appears from the bedroom since he was sick and slept over at Jozsef's place, and scolds the two secret police agents. Zoltan even tells them that during World War II he was hiding in Jozsef's secret bunker, then opens its hidden entrance from the floor—and accidentally reveals the hidden basement full of meat downstairs, which gets Jozsef arrested. The episodes in which Communist official Virag tries to give Jozsef new jobs to rehabilitate him, but the latter does everything wrong by accident, are often very funny. For instance, Jozsef is assigned as the swimming pool director, and is surprised that it is closed since a Communist general is swimming all by himself in the empty swimming pool, and so allows a hundred customers inside, causing a bodyguard to jump into the water to "protect" the general from the kids around him who could be possible assassins. In another, Jozsef is the manager of a dark ride, Communist-themed roller coaster amusement park, and the Communist general is given the first ride inside. He spots a ghost over Europe, a giant hand that smashes the "bourgeoisie", and in the finale a sign says: "The enforcer of our victory" and a photo of himself shows up on the wall, after which the general is so scared he falls unconscious. Bacso elegantly builds a clever deconstruction of Communist system with all its flaws, with a lot of a sophistication hidden inside all the little gags scattered throughout the film.

Grade:+++