Lost in translation?
September 30th 2008 07:24
Review
Hungarian director, Attila Gigor's movie: A Nyomozo (The Detective) about a pathologist who becomes both the detective and the perpetrator in a murder could have been a decent crime movie of black humor.
Or is it actually good? Foreign critics who saw the movie on film festivals (Karlovy Vary) praised it's wit, humor and dark mood. Sounds fine. It won several local awards in Hungary. Ok, they could be biased. So what's the real and honest deal about it?
The plot is a decent, however not revolutionary story about 37 year old Tibor Malkav (played by Zsolt Anger), a forensic pathologist who lives a dull life with stoic calmness. He's not good with words, nor with women. He has a faint love interest in the form of a waitress, but actually, he's not sure about what he feels. His mother is in hospital with fatal cervic cancer, and he has no clue how to pay the expensive operation that could save her. The clinic that could do the miracle is in Sweden, so there's a language barrier as well.
In this dire situation comes Cyclops, a shady figure with a milky left eye. He offers him more than enough money to save his mother. He just has to use his everyday tools: scalpel and chisel. The problem is that the subject is living and breathing Ferenc Szirmai, who obviously is not willing to be dissected. Tibor takes the assignment after like a minute of hesitation and does the dirty job at night. A stranger comes, a stranger goes, no problem.
The first twitch in the matrix comes the next day when he receives a letter from a certain Ferenc Szirmai, who states that he is his distant and to this day unknown half brother from a common father. The following river of good old shite takes Tibor through cops, newfound relatives and shady figures of this twisted story on an investigation that rushes towards doom.
Technically and in style the movie has some interesting imaginary scenes when Malkav visualizes vividly about written words, letters from his half brother, his father or the swedish clinic. The photography has some nice moments to it, but the copy I saw was grainy as hell, like they've copied it to a DVD before blowing it up again on 35 mil. Overall I would give the looks a B minus.
Having said that, you might ask: what is the problem with it? Could be interesting! Yes and no. It is interesting, the plot is somewhat decent, there are shining moments of dark grisly humor, and odd characters. The real problem lies in two factors that are benevolently obscured by translation: acting, and dialogue. Some lines made me scrape the armrest, while a large part of the acting, more precisely the delivery of lines just formed silent words in me: "what the hell... no!" It is even more obvious when the one or two actors come on screen who can deliver their lines naturally. The contrast is blinding. Unfortunately they are not the main players.
How could this happen? The lead, Zsolt Anger is a decent voice over actor, heard him before, he is good. Could it be the different environment that confused him? Ok, but what about the others? I think the problem is twofold: poorly written dialogue and not enough takes of scenes or the lack of direction in the acting. The result, sadly, is a spoiled movie that could have been good.
The funny thing is that these factors are eliminated for non-hungarian speaking viewers, hence the good foreign reviews, and the reason why I'm still recommending it to you, who don't speak hungarian: go grab it on dvd or any other source, because otherwise it's an interesting, quirky, dark funny crime flick. Enjoy the benefits of it being lost in translation!
Director: Attila Gigor
DoP: Mate Herbai
Cast: Zsolt Anger, Judit Rezes, Sandor Terhes, Ildiko Toth, Eva Kerekes, Zsolt Zagoni
Production company: KMH Film
Producer: Ferenc Pusztai
Co-Producer: Martin Persson, Tomas Eskillson, Macdara Kelleher
Script: Attila Gigor
Year of production: 2008
Original language: Hungarian
Genre: thriller
Length: 107 mins
Release date (Hungary): 2008. october 2.
Sound system: DSR 5.1
Aspect ratio: 1:1,85
Distributor: Budapest Film
Hungarian director, Attila Gigor's movie: A Nyomozo (The Detective) about a pathologist who becomes both the detective and the perpetrator in a murder could have been a decent crime movie of black humor.
Did I interrupt something, Malkav?
Or is it actually good? Foreign critics who saw the movie on film festivals (Karlovy Vary) praised it's wit, humor and dark mood. Sounds fine. It won several local awards in Hungary. Ok, they could be biased. So what's the real and honest deal about it?
The plot is a decent, however not revolutionary story about 37 year old Tibor Malkav (played by Zsolt Anger), a forensic pathologist who lives a dull life with stoic calmness. He's not good with words, nor with women. He has a faint love interest in the form of a waitress, but actually, he's not sure about what he feels. His mother is in hospital with fatal cervic cancer, and he has no clue how to pay the expensive operation that could save her. The clinic that could do the miracle is in Sweden, so there's a language barrier as well.
So are we going to the movies?
In this dire situation comes Cyclops, a shady figure with a milky left eye. He offers him more than enough money to save his mother. He just has to use his everyday tools: scalpel and chisel. The problem is that the subject is living and breathing Ferenc Szirmai, who obviously is not willing to be dissected. Tibor takes the assignment after like a minute of hesitation and does the dirty job at night. A stranger comes, a stranger goes, no problem.
Baaad idea to walk around here...
The first twitch in the matrix comes the next day when he receives a letter from a certain Ferenc Szirmai, who states that he is his distant and to this day unknown half brother from a common father. The following river of good old shite takes Tibor through cops, newfound relatives and shady figures of this twisted story on an investigation that rushes towards doom.
Technically and in style the movie has some interesting imaginary scenes when Malkav visualizes vividly about written words, letters from his half brother, his father or the swedish clinic. The photography has some nice moments to it, but the copy I saw was grainy as hell, like they've copied it to a DVD before blowing it up again on 35 mil. Overall I would give the looks a B minus.
Having said that, you might ask: what is the problem with it? Could be interesting! Yes and no. It is interesting, the plot is somewhat decent, there are shining moments of dark grisly humor, and odd characters. The real problem lies in two factors that are benevolently obscured by translation: acting, and dialogue. Some lines made me scrape the armrest, while a large part of the acting, more precisely the delivery of lines just formed silent words in me: "what the hell... no!" It is even more obvious when the one or two actors come on screen who can deliver their lines naturally. The contrast is blinding. Unfortunately they are not the main players.
The whole family in an imaginary scene.
How could this happen? The lead, Zsolt Anger is a decent voice over actor, heard him before, he is good. Could it be the different environment that confused him? Ok, but what about the others? I think the problem is twofold: poorly written dialogue and not enough takes of scenes or the lack of direction in the acting. The result, sadly, is a spoiled movie that could have been good.
The funny thing is that these factors are eliminated for non-hungarian speaking viewers, hence the good foreign reviews, and the reason why I'm still recommending it to you, who don't speak hungarian: go grab it on dvd or any other source, because otherwise it's an interesting, quirky, dark funny crime flick. Enjoy the benefits of it being lost in translation!
Director: Attila Gigor
DoP: Mate Herbai
Cast: Zsolt Anger, Judit Rezes, Sandor Terhes, Ildiko Toth, Eva Kerekes, Zsolt Zagoni
Production company: KMH Film
Producer: Ferenc Pusztai
Co-Producer: Martin Persson, Tomas Eskillson, Macdara Kelleher
Script: Attila Gigor
Year of production: 2008
Original language: Hungarian
Genre: thriller
Length: 107 mins
Release date (Hungary): 2008. october 2.
Sound system: DSR 5.1
Aspect ratio: 1:1,85
Distributor: Budapest Film
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