Rhapsodie américaine

I lived for five years in Budapest, from 1990-95, and I married a Hungarian woman, so I have a natural interest in Hungarian-themed films. I enjoyed this thoroughly. True, the ending was a bit abrupt and sappy, but I thought it was a nicely made film all in all. Well acted, especially by Scarlett Johansson and Kelly Endresz-Banlaki, who both played the central character of Suzanne/Zsuzsana at ages 15 and 6 respectively.

Natashia Kinski played well, too, and has aged gracefully, playing a woman in her into her late 30s or early 40s I suppose. I was particularly impressed by her, Johansson's and Tony Goldwyn's apparent mastery of Hungarian, no easy language, I can assure you. Much of the film is set in Hungary with Hungarian subtitles (and alternately in America in English). I speak it only moderately well, so perhaps a real Hungarian would criticize the accent, but to me to whole blending of cultures and settings was surprisingly authentic and compelling. It really captured the time and places for me.

Experienced Hollywood editor of Hungarian origin Eva Gardos threw this movie together more or less about her own life for her first feature film direction. One unfortunately has to be suspicious about any such first film a director puts together about his or her own life. Few could pull that off to produce a masterpiece. The tale, surely a moving, intriguing, even fascinating one, is not told too well. Still I will recommend this film for two BIG reasons. If you're not interested in what I deem to be problems with the film, move on to the last para.

The language problem, the constant dilemmas the film-makers had to face about when to use dubbing, when not (also depending on which market you want to sell on), when a character should be speaking in American English, in English with a Hungarian accent, in Hungarian with an English accent or Hungarian, obviously must have posed a great difficulty in handling the task of story-telling, and would have made suspending disbelief a bit more difficult for the audience anyway. But English with a Slavic accent as English with a Hungarian accent really doesn't work well when you hear it. OK, for an American with no Hungarian connection it can be alright. But there were problems if you put yourself beyond this, too. Beside errors in telling the story, the Hungary showed in the movie is just not real. It's interesting that among the comments so far I have only seen a guy from Kent (the UK) point that out, even contrary to some others who found the atmosphere of the Hungarian scenes authentic. I have felt neither the political situation get across to the viewer, nor local culture being authentically presented. Altogether, the mood of the era is not captured at all, not translated to the mainly American audience that may still, of course, feel as though it would be.

So why would I still recommend the film? On the one hand Eva Gardos doesn't do justice to herself, for the story is really damn interesting. Not just because of the role history plays in it, but because you have women in the focus here and so you're guaranteed to see strong female characters. Or not exactly guaranteed, for I have seen films with women in the focus end up differently, but in 'American Rhapsody' this is something that actually works well. It's primarily one person's responsibility I believe. She is the other reason you have to check this movie out. After the film I looked up her name on IMDb, thinking it was time for some talent-spotting. 'Scarlett Johansson' – OK, I decided to remember the name. Next week one TV channel played 'Lost in Translation'. She was in it, so I decided to watch it. Just guess if I started disliking her after that… :-). I'll help you out. Whenever I walk across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge here in Budapest I think with amazement of her having walked across there in 'American Rhapsody'.

We in the United States do not realize how spoiled we are with material things. I am 70 yrs old and remember the lst 10 years of my life, raised by poor farmer grandparents in the depression, having nothing.

Kids do not want to hear nor believe how spoiled they are. They want every new electronic gadget that comes unto the market whether they can afford it or not.They can't afford to fix their car, pay their bills, but they must buy a cell phone, a DVD, cable TV, go to the latest movie at the theater, go out to eat etc

This is a sad movie, but a great one. It shows the comparison between life in Hungary in the mid part of the 20th century compared to the same couple getting to the United States. I won't go into the plot. The little 5 yr old actress who starred in this movie was sensational.

We do not appreciate what we have in the U.S. either. We do not realize how material gadgets do not bring the happiness we thought they would. Please rent this movie...

I saw "American Rhapsody," last night; it's the first film by a 50-ish Hungarian-born female filmmaker. It's features an amazing, personal, story of the early Cold War-era immigration to America of a Hungarian family, and it was really incredibly done. We love Scarlett Johansson ("Ghost World"), who plays the 15-year-old, but the girl who plays the lead character at age 6 is one of the most loveable child actresses ever, Nastassia Kinski as the mother is great, Tony Goldwyn, as the dad, is good, the pair who play the Hungarian rural couple (especially the man) are fantastic. Hungary and Budapest too play a key role. The movie will sicken you, somewhat, about the America-in-the-early-60s mentality (sicken you because you know how much a part of all of us it is). As one reviewer said, this is no State Department-backed immigration story. And it will make you fall in love with the Hungarian countryside. It's a terrific movie-going experience. I cried several times throughout.

Because of how little marketing and buzz the movie has generated, I fear it will come and go in a flash; that's why I issue this appeal.

By the way, don't go expecting great filmmaking techniques and perfect direction; it's her first movie and mistakes were made. But the experience, if you go in the right frame of mind, is great. It's in English.

The film was entertaining and touching, but what I liked most about it was its faithful recreation of the 1950s. Having grown up in that period, I don't think I've ever seen such a faithful recreation of that era on screen. I kept looking at the screen and sayin, "Oh my God, I remember that."