Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HUNGARY ON FILM
Hungarians have an impressive record in film, and many of the Hollywood greats were
Hungarian émigrés
- Michael Curtiz, Sir Alex Korda, George Cukor, and actors Béla
Lugosi, Tony Curtis and Leslie Howard to name but a few. In the Communist years Hun-
garian film continued to make waves, with Miklós Jancsó, Károly Makk, István Szabó,
Márta Mészáros and others directing films that managed to say much about the oppressive
regimeinspiteofitsrestrictions.Nowthemainconstraintonfilm-makersischronicunder-
funding, one exception being István Szabó, who seems to have no problem with funding,
though critics have not been impressed by his recent films.
Alongsideestablished namessuchasBéla Tarr,themaster oftheslow,starkandverylong
take, younger directors who have attracted international recognition include Kornél Mun-
druczó,withhis
WhiteGod
(
FehérIsten
),PéterBergendy,withhis1950sthriller
TheExam
(
A vizsga
), and Ádám Császi, whose debut film
Land of Storms
(
Viharsarok
) was released
in 2014.
Budapest is a popular
location
both for its looks and its cheapness, for films, such as
Hercules
and
Strike Back
. It served as Buenos Aires in
Evita
, as Berlin in
The Boy in the
Striped Pyjamas
, as Moscow in
A Good Day to Die Hard
and as Paris in the
Maigret
TV
series, where the view towards the Basilica down Lázár utca behind the Opera House acts
as the view of the Sacré-Coeur. But it also serves as itself: the American documentary
Divan
by Pearl Gluck captures some of the characters and atmosphere of the old Jewish
quarter in its interviews.
DVDs
,mostofthemsubtitled,havemadeHungarianfilmsmuchmoreaccessible,making
itpossibletoenjoyclassicssuchasGézaRadványi's
ValaholEurópában
(1947)andZoltán
Fábri's
Körhinta
(1955). See the section
Music and film
for DVD shops.
THEATRE AND CONTEMPORARY DANCE
Hungarians show great sophistication when it comes to building theatres: take the splendid
massofthe
Vígszínház
uptheroadfromNyugatiStation,orthe
NewTheatre
neartheOpera
House. The
NationalTheatre
attracted heavy criticism for its strange design when it opened
in 2000, but perhaps one day it will be lauded. However what's performed inside is more
disappointing: productions tend to be conservative in style - a situation reinforced by the
government, who insist that Hungarian drama should be given more room and denounce the
theatre world as being dominated by the “queer lobby”.
Alternativetheatre
is
worth seeking
out, however, particularly for visitors as music and dance play a greater part than language
here.OneHungariangroupthathasreceivedconsiderablecriticalacclaimabroadisKrétakör,
while other names to look out for are László Hudi, Pál Frenák, Béla Pintér, Viktor Bodó and
