Inhabitants of a small village in Hungary deal with the effects of the fall of Communism. The town's source of revenue, a factory, has closed, and the locals, who include a doctor and three couples, await a cash payment offered in the wake of the shuttering. Irimias, a villager thought to be dead, returns and, unbeknownst to the locals, is a police informant. In a scheme, he persuades the villagers to form a commune with him.
Feb 1994
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
Nov 1988
Two young marrieds (Rafael Istvan Kovacs, Julia Muller) live in a small town in southern Hungary where jobs are hard to come by and gypsies are willing to do menial labor for a bowl of soup. Everyone lives in fear of an ugly eccentric, nicknamed the Dwarf, who collects the electricity payments and has the power to cut off households' juice. Derek Elley
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Documentary discussion with actress Kathleen Gáti as she recalls the eight months she spent tending to her mother dying of cancer.
Feb 1995